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UNIVERSITY    OF    ILLINOIS    LIBRARY    AT    URBAN A-CHAMPAIGN 


JON  15; 
JW15 


L161— O-1096 


THE  LIFE 


OF 


THOMAS  MORRIS 


PIONEER  AND  LONG  A  LEGISLATOR  OP  OHIO, 


AND 


U.  S.  SENATOR  FROM  1833  TO  1839. 


EDITED  BY   HIS  SON, 

B.    F.    MORRIS. 


1  His  memory  should  be  kept  freshly  living  among  the  lovers  of  liberty  and  progress." 

SALMON  P.  CHASE. 


CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED  BT 

MOORE,  WILSTACH,  KEYS  &  OVEREND. 

1856. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856, 

BY  B.  F.  MORRIS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  Slates  for  the  Southe 

District  of  Ohio. 


Stereotyped  and  Printed  by 

WILLIAM  OTBKEND  &  Co. 


CINCINNATI. 


I    I 


/  ' 


PREFACE. 


THIS  work  comes  before  the  public,  with  no  ambitious  pretensions.  It 
is  the  compilation  and  record  of  the  thoughts  /and  acts  of  a  plain  and 
earnest  man,  narrated  in  a  plain  and  honest  style.  It  claims  not,  nor 
was  it  the  aim  of  the  Editor,  to  present  a  work  of  finished  literary 
excellence ;  this  would  not  have  comported  with  him,  whose  thoughts 
occupy  so  large  a  share  of  these  pages,  nor  with  the  taste  or  ability  of 
the  Editor.  Tho  simple  purpose  has  been,  to  gather,  and  weave  into  a 
connected  narrative,  the  memorials  of  the  life  of  one,  who  was  an  active 
laborer  in  the  fields  of  human  toil  and  freedom,  and  who,  in  his  day,  and 
in  his  way,  did  something  to  augment  the  influences  that  are  rising  and 
swelling  that  great  volume  of  power,  which  is  to  achieve  the  regeneration 
of  humanity,  and  to  inaugurate  and  establish  the  final  and  perpetual 
reign  of  freedom.  Every  contribution,  however  small,  to  this  stream  and 
tide  of  influence,  is  an  increment  added,  and  is  essential  to  the  combina- 
tion and  completion  of  the  entire  power.  It  is  the  rivulets  that  form  the 
rivers  and  the  great  oceans  of  the  earth. 

The  work  will  be  chiefly  prized,  by  the  friends  of  freedom  especially,  as 
illustrating  the  manly  heroism  of  one  of  the  early  laborers  in  the  cause 
of  liberty ;  and  of  the  value  and  triumph  of  a  persistent  adherence  to 
the  principles  of  right,  justice,  and  Constitutional  freedom.  The  true 
treasures  of  a  State  consist  in  its  true  principles,  and  the  men  who 
have  the  courage  to  give  them  practical  and  universal  application.  Prin- 
ciples, as  abstract  ideas,  or  symbols  of  theory,  are  intangible  and  fruit- 
less ;  they  must  have,  if  their  nature  and  achievements  are  felt,  on  the 
varied  interests  of  the  State  and  Society,  an  outward  development,  and  a 
radical,  universal  application.  Men,  can  be  men,  in  all  the  active  elements 
of  a  true  manhood,  only  when  they  are  the  embodiments  and  revelators 
of  just  and  eternal  principles.  This  is  their  mission,  and  on  its  execution 
depends,  their  usefulness  and  moral  dignity. 

The  reader,  if  his  patience  will  carry  him  through  the  pages  of  this 
work,  will  find  that  he,  whose  life  and  services  it  commemorates,  was  a  man 
who  had  settled  convictions  of  right  and  true  principles ;  and  who  gave 
them  an  honest  and  steadfast  application  to  his  whole  political  life.  For 
their  defense  and  maintenance,  he  sacrificed  the  honors  and  preferments  of 

V:^f  A  (fn> 


46651 • 


IV  PREFACE. 

office,  choosing  rather  to  be  robed  in  the  well  woven  garment  of  princi- 
ple, than  to  possess  and  wear  the  insignia  and  tinsel  baubles  of  office. 

The  work  is  an  humble  contribution  to  the  political  Anti-slavery  litera- 
ture of  the  country.  The  cause  of  freedom,  in  its  active  antagonism,  with 
the  system  of  slavery,  has  been  prolific  in  this  age,  in  the  creation  of  a 
multitude  of  works,  gay  and  grave,  in  which  slavery  has  been  exposed  and 
freedom  vindicated.  The  forum  of  the  State,  the  Altars  of  religion,  the 
Sanctum  of  the  ever  teeming  press,  the  genius  of  the  Poet,  and  the  fertile 
fancy  of  the  Romancer,  have  produced  their  varied  literary  contributions 
to  the  great  Anti-slavery  cause  of  the  country  and  the  world.  In  these 
departments  of  intellectual  effort,  freedom,  and  the  forming  National 
literature  of  the  country,  have  been  richly  augmented.  This  work,  while 
claiming  no  pretension  to  an  elevated  literary  standard,  yet,  in  the 
manly  thoughts,  uttered  through  its  pages  by  him,  whose  life  it  records, 
will  be,  we  trust,  no  mean  offering  to  the  Anti-slavery  literature  of  the 
country. 

The  work  is  also  a  correct  historical  exhibition  of  the  progress 
and  results  of  the  important  political  contest,  between  freedom  and 
slavery,  during  the  age  of  our  Republic,  but  especially  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years.  Sentiments  and  acts,  the  indices  of  public  opinion, 
ore  given,  to  enable  the  reader  to  have  an  intelligent  and  accurate  view 
of  the  question,  that  now  absorbs  and  agitates  the  nation  ;  care  has  been 
taken  to  give  historical  facts  as  they  are  found  in  the  public  records  and 
papers  of  the  times  in  which  they  transpired,  yet  some  errors  may 
possibly  be  found.  It  was  the  feeling  and  purpose  of  the  editor,  "  nothing 
to  extenuate  or  set  down  aught  in  malice."  He  has  been  only  a  gleaner 
in  the  wide  field  of  facts,  that  belong  to  the  historic  times,  in  which  they 
were  evolved,  and  has  clothed  them  in  the  unvarnished  language  of  truth. 
Greater  amplification  of  the  materials  at  hand  might  have  been  made. 

The  work,  it  is  hoped,  will  not  prove  an  unacceptable  offering  to  the 
people  of  the  great  State  of  Ohio,  whose  early  history  and  legislation  are 
briefly  sketched,  and  whose  public  servant,  its  subject  was,  longer,  per- 
haps, than  any  other  of  the  many  distinguished  men  who  were  his  com- 
peers, in  forming  the  character  of  the  State,  and  giving  to  her,  her  present 
elevation  of  political  power,  wealth,  and  material  prosperity.  The 
work,  National  in  its  sentiments,  is  yet  eminently  a  State  work.  The 
Subject,  the  Editor,  the  Publishing  House,  and  the  Events  recorded  in  the 
work,  all  belong,  mainly  to  the  history  and  times  of  Ohio,  and  as 
such,  are  presented  to  the  people  of  the  Empire  State  of  the  West,  and 
the  country,  to  undergo  their  impartial  scrutiny  and  judgment.  To  their 
judgment  the  work  is  now  committed. 

September,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 
INTBODUCTOBY 9 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE  MORRIS  NAME — Ancestors  of  Thomas  Morris — His  Birth — Removal 
to  Western  Virginia— Their  Character — Home  Education — Library — 
Learned  to  Read  at  his  Mother's  knees — Anti-Slavery  incident  of  the 
Parents 10 

CHAPTER    III. 

EARLY  History  of  Ohio — Settlement  at  Marietta — Ordinance  of  1787 — 
Settlement  at  Columbia — The  Early  Pioneers — The  first  Baptist  Church 
— Supply  of  Cincinnati  with  Preaching — John  Smith,  Preacher,  first 
United  States  Senator,  implicated  with  Burr,  etc., 17 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MARRIAGE — Incident  in  the  girlhood  of  his  Wife — Their  Descendants — 
Removes  to  Clermont  County,  in  1800 — Location  in  Bethel — An  Anti- 
Slavery  Incident — Studies  Law — Bar  of  Clermont — Quoting  the  Scrip- 
tures—Character  as  a  Lawyer,  etc., 22 

CHAPTER    V. 

ELECTED  to  the  Legislature — Early  Legislative  History  of  Ohio — Narrow 
escape  of  Freedom  in  the  Convention — Character  of  the  men  who 
framed  the  Constitution — Judge  Cutter — Character  of  the  Legislators 
of  Ohio,  for  the  first  thirty-five  years — Mr.  Morris's  position  as  a 
Legislator 28 

CHAPTER    VI. 

His  labors  and  influence  as  a  Legislator — Against  Liquor  Licenses  and 
Lotteries — Against  Prohibiting  the  Emigration  of  Colored  People  to 
Ohio — Speech  on  the  Rights  of  Conscience— On  Abolishing  Imprison- 
ment for  Debt — His  Faith  in  the  People — The  People  to  Elect  all 
Officers — Jury  Trials  before  Justices — Internal  Improvements,  etc.,  32 

CHAPTER    VII. 

POPULAR  Education — Colleges  and  Common  Schools — Advocates  of  the 
Common  School  System  —  Relation  of  Education  to  Government — 
Female  Education.-— Commissioner  of  the  School  Fund,  etc.,.. 42 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

IMPEACHMENT  of  Judges — Morris  appointed  to  conduct  the  Trial — A 
Select  Committee  on  Vermont  Resolutions  in  1809 — A  Select  Committee, 
in  1810,  on  the  Measures  of  the  General  Government — Supports  the 
War  in  1812— South  Carolina  Nullification  in  1832— Morris  a  Select 
Committee — His  Resolutions — Letter  of  Judge  McLean — Reports  on 
Colonization 47 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

His  Radical  Democracy — Learned  from  the  Bible  and  the  Teachers  in  the 
Democratic  School — Not  a  Bigoted  Partisan — Earnest  Advocate  of  the 
Doctrines  of  True  Democracy — His  Popularity — Tendered  the  Nomina- 
ation  of  United  States  Senator  in  1826— Elected  Senator  in  Congress 
in  1832 — His  Election  Greeted  with  Enthusiasm,  etc., ~ 68 

CHAPTER    X. 

TAKES  his  seat  in  the  Senate — Slavery — Anti-Slavery  Sentiment  of  the 
Revolution — Opinions  of  Madison— -Jefferson — Patrick  Henry  —  John 
Jay — Washington — Franklin — Lafayette — Abolition  Societies,  in  1787 
— Thanks  of  Congress  to  an  Abolition  Society — Reaction  in  Public 
Sentiment — Slavery,  the  Ruling  Power — The  Causes  of  Reaction 63 

CHAPTER    XI. 

AGITATION — Three  Eras  of  Slavery  Agitation — Revolutionary  Era — Miss- 
ouri Era  —  Present  Era  —  Mr.  Morris  takes  his  Seat  as  Senator — 
Slavery  and  the  Slave  Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia — Petitions  to 
Congress — John  Quincy  Adams  Threatened  with  Expulsion  —  Gag 
Resolutions  of  the  House — Action  in  the  Senate— Pro-Slavery  Senators 
— Mr.  Morris's  Firmness — Resolution  of  the  Senate — The  Senate  a 
Battle-Ground  between  Freedom  and  Slavery — Prediction  of  Mr.  Morris 
— Senator  Seward — Mr.  Morris's  Speech  on  the  Right  of  Petition 74 

CHAPTER    XII. 

INCREASED  Agitation — Numbers  of  Petitioners — Confessions  of  Senators — 
Calhoun's  Resolutions — Counter  Resolutions,  by  Morris — His  Remarks 
— Record  in  his  Memorandum  Book  of  this  Struggle  in  the  Senate... 95 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

A  MEMORABLE  day  in  Mr.  Morris's  History — Mr.  Clay's  great  Speech 
against  Abolitionists  and  Slavery  Agitation  —  Mr.  Morris's  great 
speech  in  answer  to  it.  A  Southern  Senator  said  Mr.  Morris  deserved 
expulsion — Reception  through  the  country — A  Contrast — Death  of 
Calhoun — Clay — Webster — Morris— Eternal  nature  of  Truth 107 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

VARIOUS  Resolutions  offered  on  Slavery — Refused  Printing — Opinion  of 
a  Southern  Senator — A  Northern  Senator — Social  and  Civil  Proscrip- 
tions of  Anti-Slavery  Senators 168 

CHAPTER    XV. 

ALLIANCE  of  Democracy  with  the  Slavery  Power — Degeneracy  in  a  great 
party  a  great  calamity — Resolutions  of  the  Democracy  of  Cincinnati 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1839 — Mr.  Morris's  Answer — Letter  from  A.  A. 
Guthrie.Sd  of  January,  1839 — Mr.  Morris's  Reply — Vermont  Resolu- 
tions refused  to  be  Printed — Predictions  fulfilled... 174 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

CREED  of  Parties — Their  Tendencies  and  Results — Warning  of  Washing- 
ton— Mr.  Morris  a  Democrat  from  Principle — Catechised  by  the  Demo- 
cratic Legislature — His  Answer — Rejected  for  a  Second  Term — Benjamin 


CONTENTS.  VII 

Tappan  his  Successor — Letter  to  the  Ohio  Statesman — Charles  Ham- 
mon  Read  out  of  the  Party — A  Poem  written  after  his  Rejection  and 
dedicated  to  Mr.  Morris 189 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

ERECTION  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  in  Philadelphia — Distinguished  Politi- 
cians and  Divines  invited  to  its  Dedication — Its  destruction  by  a  mob — 
The  Continental  State  House — Its  Bell — Its  Bible  Motto — Mr.  Morris 
invited  to  the  Dedication — His  Answer — Its  just  and  noble  senti- 
ments  206 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

RETIREMENT  from  the  Senate — Return  to  Ohio— Addresses  a  large  meet- 
ing in  Cincinnati — Applauded  by  the  Democracy — Activity  in  the 
cause — An  address  to  the  Liberty  Party — Nominated  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent— Letter  on  that  subject — Attends  the  State  Liberty  Convention — 
His  Address 223 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

RECAPTURE  of  Fugitive  Slaves  —  Compromises  of  the  Constitution ; 
Readjustment  of  Compromise  Measures  in  1860  —  Fugitive  Slave  Bill ; 
Opposition  to  it — President  Pierce's  opinion  of  it — Approved  by  Presi- 
dent Fillmore  —  His  former  Anti-slavery  Sentiments  — Commissioners 
sent  from  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  to  Ohio,  in  1839 — Ask  Ohio  to  aid 
in  Recapturing  their  Slaves  —  How  received  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  ; 
Black  Laws  of  Ohio  —  Mr.  Morris's  labors  for  their  overthrow  —  His 
views  on  the  duties  of  States  in  the  rendition  of  Slaves  —  Report  of 
Judge  Smith  in  the  Senate  of  Ohio  in  1837 — Mr.  Morris's  elaborate 
reply  to  it 234 

CHAPTER    XX. 

MOBS — Alton  Riots— Death  of  Lovejoy — Mob  in  Cincinnati,  in  1836 — 
Public  Meeting — Birney's  Press  Destroyed — Warned  to  leave  the  city — 
Gazette  Threatened — Speech  of  the  Mayor  to  the  mob,  at  midnight — 
Public  sympathy  with  the  mob — Contrast  in  Public  Opinion — Mr. 
Morris  invited  to  Dayton  by  the  Mayor  and  others,  in  1839 — His 
Answer — Visited  Dayton  in  1842 — Mob  Violence — His  Letter  to  the 
Mayor,  after  the  mob — Remarks  on  Mobs — Mob  at  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, against  Cassius  M.  Clay — His  Heroism — Mob  spirit  at  Cleves, 
Church  closed — Prayer  in  the  public  road,  by  Samuel  Lewis — Infidel 
converted — Lane  Seminary,  etc., 267 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

ANTI-SLAVERY  Publications — Mails  Examined — Post  Office  in  Charleston 
Mobbed — President  Jackson's  Recommendation  —  Incendiary  Bill — 
Speech  of  Mr.  Morris 284 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

FORMATION  of  Parties — Their  nature  and  results — Politics  and  morality — 
The  necessity  of  their  union — Opinions  of  Washington — His  views  need 
a  new  application  to  parties — Mr.  Morris's  views  on  this  subject — The 
platforms  of  the  two  great  parties  on  slavery — Necessity  of  a  new 
party — Liberty  party  formed — Its  platform  —  Birney  and  Morris 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

nominated — Free  Soil  party — Its  platform — Van  Buren  and  Adams 
nominated — Hale  and  Julian  nominated  in  1852 — The  Platform — 
Republican  party — Fremont  and  Dayton  nominated — ite  Platform— 
Letter  of  Morris  on  his  nomination — Address  of  the  Liberty  State 
Convention — Votes  cast  for  the  party  of  freedom  in  1844, 1848,  and 
1852 298 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

TERRITORIAL  Expansion  of  Slavery — Missouri  Compromise — Her  Admis- 
sion— Agitation — Sentiments  of  Daniel  Webster  on  the  Admission  of 
Missouri — Admission  of  Arkansas — Remarks  of  Mr.  Morris,  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  Admission  of  Arkansas — Republic  of  Texas — Remarks 
and  Resolution  of  Mr.  Morris  on  Texas — Acquisition  of  Territory  from 
Mexico — California — Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise — Agitation 
through  the  country — Manifesto  of  Chase  and  others  —  Ministers 
Remonstrate  —  The  act  done,  etc., 324 

CH AFTER    XXIV. 

SLAVES  brought  to  Ohio — Mr.  Morris  memorializes  the  Governor  against 
it — Slaveholders  in  office  in  free  States — Mr.  Morris's  views  on  it — A 
Judge  refuses  to  license  a  colored  Clergyman  to  perform  the  Marriage 
Rite — Mr.  Morris  obtains  a  writ  to  compel  him  to  grant  it — A  memo- 
rial to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in  1844 — Extracts  from  a  letter — 
Appeal  to  Christians  —  Poem,  descriptive  of  his  course  and  prin- 
ciples  337 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

MISCELLANEOUS  reflections  during  his  Senatorial  term — Calls  on  the 
President — The  President's  Levee — Bank  Excitement — Removal  of 
Deposits — Violence  of  Party  Spirit — McDuffie's  Oratory — Funerals  of 
Members  of  Congress — Their  pageantry  and  expense — Departure  of 
the  Government  from  Republican  simplicity — Letter  Writers  at  Wash- 
ington, etc 345 

CHAPTER    XXYI. 

EXTRACTS  from  Various  Speeches  —  Public  Printing — Currency — Land 
Bill — Ohio  and  Michigan  Boundary — Expunging  Resolution, 359 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

His  Private  Life  and  Personal  Characteristics  —  Liberality  to  Poor  and 
Honest  Young  Men — Thomas  L.  Hamer — His  Life  and  Character — Mr. 
Morris's  Son  pronounces  his  Eulogy  in  Congress — An  interesting  fact—- 
His Sense  of  Justice  and  Tenderness — Lines  on  the  Death  of  a  Grand- 
daughter— His  Dislike  to  Idlers  —  Advice  to  his  Youngest  Son,  on 
Leaving  Home  for  College — The  Editor's  Reminiscences — His  Religious 
Faith — The  Moral  Significance  of  his  life 397 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

His  Death  and  Dying  Exclamations — Burial  —  Monument  over  his 
Grave  —  Its  Inscription  —  Notice  of  his  Death  by  the  Friends  of 
Freedom — Dr.  Bailey's  Notice  and  Analysis  of  his  character — Meeting 
of  the  Liberty  Party  at  Cincinnati — Vote  to  Erect  a  Monument  to  his 
Memory,  in  Hamilton  County — Final  Remarks 404. 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER. 


"  HONOR  to  whom  honor  is  due."  The  pioneers  of  freedom 
are  worthy  to  he  honored  and  immortalized  in  history.  The 
unalterahle  friends  of  freedom,  they  lay  the  first  offerings 
upon  its  altar,  and  devote,  at  the  peril  of  their  own  political 
standing,  and  of  life  itself,  their  energies  to  its  defense  and 
progress.  History  presents  noble  testimonials  of  the  strug- 
gles, and  achievments  of  these  proto-martyrs  to  freedom  and 
the  rights  of  man.  Political  confiscation,  banishment  from 
political  parties,  and  blood  flowing  from  the  block,  attest  the 
faith,  and  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  these  patriots.  Such 
men  ought  not  to  die  from  the  memory,  or  the  history  of 
their  country.  They  do  not  die.  "  In  this  world  they  will 
have  their  judgment  day,  and  their  names  which  went  down, 
temporarily,  like  a  gallant  banner,  trodden  in  the  dust,  shall 
rise  again,  all  glorious  in  the  sight  of  the  nation." 

Emmet,  the  patriot,  and  martyr  for  the  freedom  of  Ireland, 
said,  "  Let  not  my  history  be  written  during  the  present 
generation.  The  future  will  rectify  the  judgment  of  public 
opinion,  and  remove  present  prejudices ;  then  posterity  will 
do  me  justice,  and  vindicate  my  memory."  Truth  is  certain 
of  an  ultimate  triumph ;  and  when  that  triumph  shall  come, 
their  names  and  memories  will  live  in  grateful  remembrance ; 


X  INTRODUCTORY. 

and  before  the  world,  "  their  age  shall  be  clearer  than  the 
noon-day;  they  shatt  shine  forth,  they  shall  be  as  the 
morning.'' 

The  present  is  a  fitting  time  to  present  to  the  lovers  of 
liberty,  the  life  and  services  of  one  of  the  first  co-laborers  in 
the  cause  of  human  freedom,  in  its  contest  with  the  aggres- 
sions of  American  slavery.  THOMAS  MORRIS,  of  Ohio,  in 
the  councils  of  his  country,  State  and  National,  was  ever  the 
honest,  earnest,  out-spoken,  and  fearless  friend  of  freedom. 
In  him  Constitutional  liberty,  the  rights  of  man,  the  cause  of 
universal  emancipation,  and  resistance  to  the  slave  power  of 
the  country,  found  a  faithful  sentinel,  and  an  able  advocate. 
He  was  among  the  first  political  martyrs  in  the  great  strug- 
gle between  freedom  and  slavery.  Having  fresh  Senatorial 
honors  proffered  by  the  Democratic  party  that  honored  him 
with  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  if  he  would 
be  an  apostate  to  conscience  and  freedom,  he  rejected  them, 
as  unworthy  of  such  a  sacrifice ;  and  the  party  that  had  for 
nearly  forty  years  honored  him  with  political  trusts  and  pre- 
ferments, decreed  his  political  crucifixion.  He  paid  the 
penalty  on  the  4th  of  March,  1839,  and  retired  from  his 
seat  as  Senator  in  Congress,  with  the  proud  consciousness  of 
political  rectitude,  and  of  unfaltering  faithfulness  to  freedom 
and  the  true  principles  of  the  Constitution. 

Seventeen  years  have  passed  away  since  his  voice  for  free- 
dom was  heard  in  the  halls  of  the  National  Congress,  and 
twelve  years  since  the  grave  held  all  that  was  mortal  of 
Thomas  Morris.  The  man  dies,  but  his  services  and  memory 
live.  And  the  valuable  services  he  rendered  to  freedom, 
when  but  few  voices  were  heard  in  its  defense,  either  in  the 
country,  or  in  Congress,  will  now  be  appreciated,  approved, 
and  gratefully  remembered.  His  warnings  and  prophecies, 
uttered  with  a  fearless  independence,  in  reference  to  the 


INTBODUCTOBY..  XI 

purposes  and  aggressions  of  the  slave  power,  seeking  perpetual 
expansion  and  supremacy,  have  been  fearfully  fulfilled.  The 
present  avowed  purpose  of  the  slave  power,  to  hold,  if  possi- 
ble, the  balance  of  political  power  in  its  own  hands,  and  to 
give  indefinite  extension  to  the  system  of  slavery,  is  but  the 
true  fulfillment  of  the  predictions  of  Thomas  Morris,  uttered 
from  high  places  of  public  trust.  He  foresaw  the  evil,  and 
gave  the  alarm  to  the  country. 

A  distinguished  and  early  co-laborer  in  the  cause  of  liberty, 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  who  for  six  years  filled  with  distinguished 
ability  the  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  once 
occupied  by  Thomas  Morris,  and  is  now  the  able  and  accom- 
plished Governor  of  Ohio,  says  of  him :  "  I  knew  him  well, 
and  honored  him  greatly.  He  was  far  beyond  the  time  he 
lived  in.  He  first  led  me  to  see  the  character  of  the  slave 
power,  as  an  aristocracy,  naturally  in  league  with  the  money 
power ;  and  the  need  of  an  earnest  and  consistent  Democratic 
organization  to  counteract  its  pretensions.  Few  anti-slavery 
men  of  to-day,  with  all  the  light  thrown  on  the  subject,  saw 
this  matter  as  clearly  as  did  he.  His  memory  should  be 
kept  freshly  living  among  the  lovers  of  liberty  and  progress." 

His  life,  services,  and  some  of  his  speeches  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  and  in  the  Legislature  of  Ohio, 
together  with  various  papers  on  the  subject  of  American 
slavery,  are  now  presented  to  the  public.  The  work  is 
undertaken  and  published  from  motives  of  filial  affection, 
and  patriotism  ;  and  from  a  desire  to  perpetuate  the  services 
of  an  honored  ancestor,  who  was  a  friend  to  the  oppressed, 
an  able  champion  of  freedom,  an  incorruptible  patriot,  an 
honest  politician,  and  a  moral  hero.  In  its  prominent  fea- 
tures the  work  is  anti-slavery  ;  presenting  the  historical  facts 
of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  sentiment  of  freedom,  now  so 
happily  prevalent,  to  the  ascendancy  of  which  Thomas  Morris 


Xll 


INTRODUCTORY. 


gave  no  unimportant  impulse.  It  is  also  a  brief  historical 
record  of  the  early  settlement,  and  legislation  of  Ohio,  with 
which  Mr.  Morris  was  prominently  and  intimately  identified. 
The  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  Citizens  of  Ohio  and  the 
Freemen  of  the  United  States ;  in  the  humble  hope  that  it 
will  add  an  additional  momentum  to  the  resistless  power  of  a 
growing  public  sentiment,  that  will  overthrow  the  system  of 
American  slavery,  and  give  freedom  a  complete  and  perpetual 
triumph  over  the  American  continent.  In  that  triumph  the 
name  and  services  of  Thomas  Morris  will  not  be  forgotten, 
who  declared,  "  against  this  foe  of  God  and  man,  we  have 
waged  a  perpetual  war ;  and  we  will  teach  our  children  to 
lay  their  hands  upon  the  altar  of  their  country's  liberty,  and 
swear  eternal  enmity  to  slavery.11 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  Morris  Name— Ancestors  of  Thomas  Morris — His  Birth — Removal 
to  Western  Virginia — Their  Character — Home  Education — Library — 
Learned  to  Read  at  his  Mother's  knees — Anti-Slavery  Incident  of  the 
Parents. 

THE  name  of  Morris  is  prominent  in  English  history, 
and  is  redolent  with  patriotism  and  piety.  Some  fell 
among  the  martyrs  in  the  reign  of  "  bloody  Mary,"  and 
others  have  a  place  in  the  history  of  the  Parliamentary 
struggles  with  Charles  the  First,  and  in  the  campaigns  of 
Cromwell.  Uniformly  they  were  found  on  the  side  of 
freedom,  and  the  name  is  extant  with  numerous  and  hon- 
orable representatives  in  England,  Wales,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land and  America.  In  1637,  the  first  representative  of 
the  name  came  from  England  and  settled  in  Massachu- 
setts, from  whom  numerous  and  honorable  descendants 
sprang ;  and  the  head  of  that  first  family  bore  the  name 
of  Thomas,  the  same  as  he  whose  life  and  services  are  pre- 
sented in  this  volume. 

The  ancestral  family  from  whom  the  subject  of  this 
memoir  was  descended,  was  from  "Wales.  Isaac,  the 
father  of  Thomas  Morris,  was  born  in  1740,  in  Berks 
county,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  mother,  Ruth  Henton,  in 
1750,  and  was  the  daughter  of  a  Virginia  planter.  JS"ine 
sons  and  three  daughters  were  the  fruits  of  their  mar- 
riage. Thomas  was  the  fifth  child,  and  was  bom  on  the 
3d  of  January,  1776,  the  memorable  year  of  American 
Independence.  Soon  after  the  birth  of  Thomas,  his 
parents  moved  to  the  wilds  of  "Western  Virginia,  and  set- 
tled in  Harrison  county,  near  Clarksburgh.  They 


14  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

both  members  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  lived  and  died 
exemplary  Christians.  The  father  was  a  minister  in  that 
denomination,  and  during  sixty  years  preached  the  Gos- 
pel, never  failing  in  a  single  appointment,  nor  never  took 
a  dose  of  medicine.  At  his  death,  occurring  at  the  ripe 
age  of  ninety-one,  in  1830,  there  were  three  hundred  de- 
scendants. His  descendants,  living  and  dead,  now  num- 
ber about  a  thousand  persons. 

The  mother  forms  the  character  and  directs  the  destiny 
of  the  child.  Thomas  had  a  Christian  mother,  who  gave 
him  the  first  lessons  in  education,  and  trained  him  in  the 
school  of  virtue  and  freedom.  In  those  early  days,  the 
privileges  of  the  common  schools  were  rare,  and  hence  the 
entire  education  of  most  families  was  received  at  home. 
This  was  so  of  the  Morris  children.  It  was  the  habit  of 
their  mother,  whenever  in  her  log  cabin  she  sat  down  to 
sew  or  knit,  to  have  one  of  her  children  by  her  side  read- 
ing the  Bible ;  for  all  of  her  children  could  read  well  be- 
fore they  were  six  years  of  age.  The  historical  portions 
of  the  Bible  were  selected  as  the  most  interesting  to  the 
juvenile  mind.  This  home  education,  the  stool  at  the 
mother's  knee,  is  the  first  round  in  the  ladder  of  advance- 
ment. Here  the  young  soul  drinks  in  the  first  draught 
of  wisdom,  and  is  schooled  in  motives  drawn  from  the 
fountain  of  perfect  and  eternal  truth.  Here  the  first 
aspirations  for  knowledge  are  formed,  and  the  first  inspi- 
rations for  freedom  and  virtue  are  received.  It  was  in 
the  home  school,  and  from  a  mother's  lips,  that  Thomas 
Morris  was  trained  to  love  truth  and  freedom.  Here  the 
elements  of  a  character  were  planted  which,  becoming 
the  radical  convictions  of  his  nature,  made  him,  in  the 
manhood  of  life,  strong  and  fearless  in  the  resistance  of 
slavery  and  wrong. 

The  library  of  the  Morris  family  consisted  of  three 
Bibles,  four  Testaments,  and  as  many  Hymn  books  and 
Spelling  books,  a  Dictionary,  Dillworth's  School -Master's 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  15 

Assistant,  the  Young  Man's  Companion,  an  Arithmetic 
and  an  Outline  of  Astronomy ;  Scott's  Lessons  on  Elocu- 
tion, part  of  Bunyan's  and  Baxter's  writings,  and  twelve 
volumes  of  sermons.  These  were  the  only  facilities  that 
Thomas  Morris  had  for  his  early  education.  Three 
months  at  a  common  school  completed  his  scholastic  edu- 
cation. His  college  was  the  mountain  wilds  of  Virginia, 
and  there  he  graduated  with  a  diploma  from  nature,  and 
a  blessing  from  a  Christian  mother.  He  early  developed 
strong  natural  powers  of  intellect,  an  eager  thirst  for 
knowledge,  and  a  manly  self-reliance.  At  fourteen,  he 
made  a  full  hand  in  the  harvest  field ;  at  sixteen,  he  shoul- 
dered his  musket  to  repel  the  aggressions  of  the  Indians 
on  the  frontiers  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania ;  at  seven- 
teen, he  served  several  months  in  Captain  Levi  Morgan's 
company  of  wood  rangers,  stationed  in  the  wilderness,  in 
what  is  now  the  eastern  part  of  Ohio.  He  was  endowed 
with  a  strong  mind  and  a  vigorous  body,  and  the  early 
training  of  his  mother  imbued  him  with  the  elements  of 
a  character  marked  with  boldness,  self-reliance  and  fear- 
less independence. 

An  incident  in  the  life  of  his  parents  will  reflect  honor 
on  their  anti -slavery  sentiments,  and  show  how  early 
their  children  were  taught,  by  precept  and  example,  in 
the  school  of  freedom.  His  mother,  in  girlhood,  held  fre- 
quent conversations  with  a  number  of  native  Africans, 
kidnapped  and  brought  in  slave-ships  to  Virginia,  the 
slave-trade  then  being  sanctioned  by  law.  Her  father  was 
a  slaveholder,  and  at  his  death  left,  by  will,  one  female 
slave,  all  he  had,  to  his  wife  during  her  lifetime.  At  her 
death,  this  slave,  with  her  increase,  was  to  be  the  patri- 
mony of  the  two  daughters.  In  1798,  the  wife  of  Hen- 
ton  died,  and  eight  "  human  chatties  "  was  the  inheritance 
of  the  two  daughters.  The  executor  of  the  will  gave 
information  of  these  facts,  aud  desired  to  convey  to  Morris 


16  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

and  his  wife  their  share  of  the  slaves.  The  proposi- 
tion was  rejected  as  an  outrage  on  their  sense  of  justice, 
and  they  declared  that  they  wonld  do  no  act  that  would 
recognize  the  right  of  one  man  to  make  another  man 
chattel  property.  It  was  a  matter  of  regret  to  the  Mor- 
ris family  that  they  did  not  receive  them  and  give  them 
the  boon  of  freedom.  This  noble  act  of  the  parents  of 
Thomas  Morris  was  one  of  the  home  lessons  he  received 
in  the  school  of  freedom. 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  17 


CHAPTER  III. 

EARLY  History  of  Ohio — Settlement  at  Marietta — Ordinance  of  1787 — 
Settlement  at  Columbia — The  early  Pioneers — The  first  Baptist  Church 
— Supply  of  Cincinnati  with  preaching — John  Smith,  Preacher,  first 
United  States  Senator,  implicated  with  Burr — Morris  emigrates  to  Co- 
lumbia— Employed  by  Smith — Hunts  in  the  forest  where  Cincinnati 
stands — A  Contrast. 

IN  1795,  the  territory  now  constituting  the  State  of 
Ohio  became  the  permanent  home  of  Thomas  Morris. 
The  great  North-western  Territory,  out  of  which  the  five 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wis- 
consin have  been  formed,  was  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the 
United  States.  In  1787,  Congress  passed  an  ordinance 
which  consecrated  forever  this  vast  domain  to  the  reign 
of  freedom.  Slavery  was  forever  prohibited.  The  wis- 
dom of  that  great  act  has  been  most  signally  vindicated 
in  the  present  prosperity  and  greatness  of  the  State  of 
Ohio.  In  her  material  wealth,  in  her  noble  systems  of 
education,  in  her  agricultural  and  commercial  prosperity, 
in  her  political  power  and  influence,  and  in  all  that  -con- 
stitutes the  best  types  of  a  Christian  civilization,  Ohio 
presents  a  noble  monument  of  freedom,  and  the  most 
unanswerable  evidence  of  the  wisdom  of  that  policy  that 
forbids  the  foot-prints  of  a  slave  to  tread  the  soil  of  a  free 
nation.  This  noble  ordinance  of  freedom  was,  on  the  4th 
of  July,  1788,  made  the  special  topic  of  eulogy  and  thanks- 
giving by  the  emigrants  who,  on  the  7th  of  April,  1788, 
made  their  settlement  at  Marietta,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  river.  In  the  groves  of  nature,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  enchanting  scenery  that  surrounded  them,  breathing 


18  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

an  air  made  fragrant  with  freedom,  did  the  pioneer  emi- 
grants from  New  England  celebrate  the  anniversary  of 
their  national  independence,  by  an  oration  of  thanksgiv- 
ing to  God  for  that  ordinance  that  had  forever  consecra- 
ted the  soil  of  Ohio  to  freedom. 

In  November,  1788,  seven  months  subsequent  to  the 
settlement  at  Marietta,  a  colony  of  emigrants  began  an- 
other settlement  at  Columbia,  Hamilton  county,  five  miles 
above  Cincinnati.  Among  others,  these  emigrants  con- 
sisted of  Goforth,  Stites,  Major  Gano,  Col.  Spencer,  Rev. 
John  Smith,  Francis  Dunlavey,  and  John  Reily.  Judge 
Burnet,  himself  an  early  pioneer,  and  a  distinguished 
actor  in  the  history  and  legislation  of  Ohio,  in  his  Notes 
on  the  North-western  Territory,  says  of  the  settlers  in 
Columbia  :  "  They  were  all  men  of  energy  and  enterprise, 
and  were  more  numerous  than  either  of  the  parties  who 
commenced  their  settlements  below  them  on  the  Ohio." 
The  village  of  Columbia,  it  was  thought,  would  become 
the  great  commercial  town  of  the  Miami  country,  and  for 
many  years  maintained  a  vigorous  rivalry  with  the  rising 
settlements  of  Cincinnati  and  North  Bend.  Cincinnati, 
however,  became  the  center  of  commerce  and  population, 
and  so  rapid  has  been  her  progress,  that  she  now  almost 
includes  within  her  corporate  limits  Columbia,  once  her 
rival  and  superior. 

The  Indians  were  numerous  and  hostile,  and  hence  it 
became  necessary  for  the  emigrants  to  erect  a  fort,  called 
Fort  Miami,  for  their  protection,  and  which  afforded  to 
the  families  a  place  of  safety  and  refuge.  Farms  were 
opened  and  agriculture  prosecuted  under  a  military  police. 
While  one  part  of  the  emigrants  were  working  in  the 
fields,  another  must  be  watching  lest  the  Indians  should 
attack  them  by  surprise. 

Several  of  the  early  emigrants  were  Baptist  preachers, 
and  one  of  the  first  acts  was  to  organize  a  church,  and  to 
erect  a  house  for  the  worship  of  God.  The  church  was 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  19 

constituted  on  the  last  Saturday  of  March,  1790^ by  Eev. 
Stephen  Gano,  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  There  were 
nine  members  who  united  in  the  constitution,  viz. :  Ben- 
jamin and  Mary  Davis,  Isaac  Ferris,  John  Ferris,  Eliza- 
beth Ferris,  Jonah  Reynolds,  Amy  Reynolds,  John  S. 
Gano  and  Thomas  C.  Wade.  During  the  Spring  of  1790, 
the  frame  edifice  was  opened  for  worship.  It  was  built 
on  a  beautiful  eminence,  and  stood,  for  a  half  century,  a 
suggestive  relic  of  pioneer  faith  and  enterprise.  Many 
years  after,  when  the  venerable  building  was  passing  into 
mine,  some  one  gave  utterance  to  his  feelings  in  a  poem, 
of  which  the  two  following  stanzas  only  remain : 

•'Near  where  the  Ohio  winds  its  lonely  way, 
Through  fields  and  flowers,  and  herbage  richly  gay ; 
There  on  a  green,  luxuriant  sloping  sod, 
In  ruined  mantles  clad,  stood  the  lone  house  of  God. 

A  strange  sensation  thrilled  across  my  breast, 

As  its  drear  aisles  my  wandering  footsteps  pressed ; 

Their  sounds  alone  disturbed  the  pensive  scene, 

That  spoke  what  it  was  then,  and  told  what  it  had  been." 

At  the  dedication  of  this  church,  which  was  the  second 
erected  in  Ohio,  in  order  to  be  protected  from  the  attacks 
of  the  Indians,  the  militia  appeared  armed  for  defense, 
and  Col.  Spencer,  long  a  venerable  and  honored  citizen 
of  Cincinnati,  addressed  them  at  the  close  of  the  sermon, 
on  the  danger  the  congregation  was  in  if  attacked  only 
by  a  half  dozen  Indians ;  and  on  subsequent  Sabbaths, 
this  congregation  of  pioneer  worshipers  were  dispersed 
in  great  haste  for  fear  of  the  Indians.  Thus  the  insti- 
tutions of  Christianity  and  of  civilization,  were  planted 
by  the  perils  and  privations  of  our  noble  and  self-denying 
pioneers.  This  Baptist  church  had  the  true  missionary 
spirit,  and  labored  to  diffuse  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel 
into  destitute  regions.  Cincinnati  then  needed  the  min- 
istrations of  a  Gospel  minister;  and  in  April,  1790,  the 


20  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

church  formally  passed  a  resolution  "  that  in  view  of  the 
entire  destitution  of  preaching  in  Cincinnati,  Bro.  Smith, 
(afterward  the  celebrated  John  Smith,  Senator  of  Ohio), 
be  allowed  to  spend  half  his  time  in  that  place." 

Rev.  John  Smith  was  the  first  regular  pastor,  and  emi- 
grated from  Pennsylvania,  in  May,  1790.  He  was  a 
remarkable  man,  possessed  of  varied  talent,  and  a  versa- 
tile genius.  He  was  a  successful  merchant,  an  adroit  pol- 
itician, a  sagacious  legislator,  and  an  able  divine.  A 
cotemporary,  Judge  Pollock,  of  Clermont  county,  said 
of  him  :  "  As  an  ox-driver,  no  man  was  his  superior ;  at 
a  log-rolling,  or  horse-racing,  he  was  the  foremost  man  ; 
at  the  end  of  a  handspike,  few  could  outlift  him.  The 
Sabbath  day  would  find  him  in  the  pulpit,  an  able  advo- 
cate of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Baptist 
denomination.  As  a  member  of  Congress,  he  stood 
among  the  great  men  of  the  nation." 

In  1802,  Ohio  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  John 
Smith  was  elected  one  of  her  first  Senators  in  Congress, 
which  office  he  filled  for  one  term.  At  the  close  of  his 
Senatorial  term,  he  became  implicated  with  Aaron  Burr 
in  his  treasonable  project  of  forming  a  South-Western 
independent  government.  Smith,  in  1807,  resigned  his 
Senatorship,  fled  from  Ohio  in  disgrace,  lost  his  great 
wealth,  and  ended  his  career  in  dishonor  and  poverty  at 
Bayou  Sara,  Louisiana. 

In  1795,  Thomas  Morris,  a  young  and  enterprising 
adventurer,  nineteen  years  of  age,  from  the  mountains  of 
Western  Virginia,  arrived  in  Columbia.  He  was  imme- 
diately employed  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  Rev.  John 
Smith,  and  became  a  great  favorite  with  him.  During 
this  time  his  mind  became  deeply  exercised  on  the  subject 
of  personal  religion,  and  his  feelings  found  utterance  in 
in  frequent  poetic  effusions,  which  are  all  lost.  Rev.  John 
Smith,  and  others,  regarded  these  productions  as  of  great 
merit  for  a  youth  of  his  age  and  limited  education.  For 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  21 

several  years  he  continued  in  the  employ  of  Smith,  im- 
proving, as  he  could,  his  mind  by  reading,  and  preparing 
for  a  wider  sphere  of  action. 

The  plat  of  ground  on  which  the  great  commercial  city 
of  Cincinnati  now  stands,  was  frequently  traversed  by 
Morris.  His  feet  threaded  the  forest,  then  in  the  wild 
magnificence  of  nature,  and  the  crack  of  his  rifle  brought 
down  many  a  wild  turkey  from  the  tops  of  lofty  trees 
which  covered  the  very  spot  on  which  now  is  erected  and 
established  that  noble  building  and  institution,  the  Young 
Men's  Mercantile  Library  Association.  How  wonderful 
the  change  in  fifty  years !  Now,  commerce,  arts,  sci- 
ence, education,  Christian  institutions,  and  the  highest 
forms  of  a  refined  social  civilization,  and  a  prosperous, 
industrial  population  of  over  two  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple, cover  with  their  peaceful  and  noble  triumphs,  and 
their  monuments  of  taste  and  civilization,  and  happiness, 
the  same  forest  where  young  Morris  was  accustomed  to 
shoot  his  wild  game. 

"  Peace  has  her  triumphs  no  less  than  war." 


22 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MARRIAGE  —  Incident  in  the  girlhood  of  his  Wife — Their  Descendants— 
Removes   to  Clermont   County,   in   1800  —  Location  in  Bethel  —  An 
Anti-slavery  Incident — Studies  Law — Bar  of  Clermont  —  Quoting  the 
Scriptures  —  Character  as  a  Lawyer — Defends  the  Laboring  Classes — 
Incident  in  a  Court-house. 

AMONG  the  first  emigrants  to  Columbia,  was  the  family 
of  Benjamin  Davis;  originally  from  Lancaster  county, 
Pennsylvania,  but  direct  from  Mason  county,  Kentucky. 
The  ancestors  of  this  family  were  from  Wales,  worthy  and 
honored.  The  children  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  Davis 
consisted  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom 
Rachel  was  the  youngest.  On  the  19th  of  November, 
1797,  two  years  after  he  reached  the  Columbia  settlement, 
Thomas  Morris  and  Rachel  Davis  were  married. 

She  was  reared  in  the  midst  of  the  privations  of  a 
pioneer  life,  and  was  the  fitting  companion  of  him  who 
was  to  endure  the  hardships  of  a  new  country,  and  to 
achieve  his  own  fortunes  and  character.  The  pioneer 
women  of  the  West,  were  efficient  and  faithful  partici- 
pators in  the  great  work  of  laying  the  foundations  of 
the  new  empire,  and  endured  with  patient  heroism  the 
dangers  and  privations  of  a  back-woods  life.  An  inci- 
dent, in  the  girlhood  of  Eachel  Davis,  will  illustrate  the 
daring  and  self-independence  of  the  early  females  of  the 
West.  In  1796,  she  and  her  sister  made  a  visit  to  the  old 
family  residence,  in  Washington,  Mason  county,  Ken- 
tucky. The  distance  from  Columbia  was  forty-five 
miles,  and  through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  unmarked, 
except  by  a  horse-path.  The  Indians  were  roaming  in  the 


LIPS    OT    SENATOR    MORRIS.  23 

forests,  and  travelers  were  in  constant  danger.  Nothing 
daunted,  these  traveling  girls  started  alone  on  their 
journey,  on  horse-back,  and,  without  once  alighting  from 
their  horses,  safely  accomplished  their  journey.  A  linen 
wallet  with  some  shell  corn  in  one  end,  and  their  dinner 
in  the  other,  afforded  refreshments  for  man  and  beast,  at 
noon,  when  by  the  side  of  a  running  stream  they  stopped, 
poured  the  corn  on  the  ground  for  their  horses,  and  par- 
took of  their  own  refreshment  on  horseback. 

The  marriage  life  of  Thomas  Morris  and  Rachel  his 
wife  continued  almost  fifty  years  ;  she  surviving  her  hus- 
band eight  years,  and  dying  at  the  age  of  seventy-four, 
on  the  l€th  of  January,  1853,  near  Cincinnati.  They 
raised  and  educated  eleven  children,  who  lived  to  fill  posts 
of  usefulness  and  honor  in  society.  The  oldest  son,  after 
filling  with  abjlity  for  nearly  twenty  years  the  clerkship 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in 
Clennont  county,  represented,  for  four  consecutive  years, 
the  Congressional  District  of  Ohio,  in  the  National  Legis- 
lature, succeeding,  in  1846,  the  distinguished  and  lamented 
Thomas  L.  Hamer ;  the  second  son  held  during  twenty 
years,  and  during  several  administrations,  the  office  of 
Post-Master,  of  Bethel,  Ohio  ;  the  third  son  has  been  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  during  the  last  seventeen  years,  in 
the  New-School  Presbyterian  church ;  and  the  fourth 
son,  a  resident  of  Quincy,  Illinois,  engaged  in  the  profes- 
sion of  law,  has  been  for  the  past  twenty  years  a  promi- 
nent and  active  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  and 
was  honored  with  the  office  of  Chief  Commissioner  of  the 
Public  Works  of  that  State,  and  elected  as  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  is  now  a  candidate  for  Congress. 

There  are  now  living  about  sixty  descendants  of  Thomas 
and  Rachel  Morris,  and  scarcely  one  either  dead  or  living, 
was  openly  infidel  or  irreligious.  All  the  children  were 
members  of  the  Methodist  or  Presbyterian  church,  but 
two,  and  they  firm  in  the  faith  of  Christianity,  and  some 


24  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

who    are   dead  were   distinguished   for  their  Christian 
character. 

This  fact  is  suggestive  and  instructive.  The  parents 
were  themselves  the  children  of  Christian  parents,  and 
the  mother  for  thirty  years  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
church.  They  taught  their  children  to  believe  in  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  attend  upon  the  institutions  of  the  Gospel, 
and  in  their  old  age  they  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing 
their  descendants  moral  and  religious.  These  results  had 
their  origin  in  the  Log-Cabins  of  the  West,  where  their 
own  Christian  parents  taught  them  the  great  truths  of 
the  Bible,  in  early  childhood. 

In  1800,  they  removed  from  Columbia  to  Williams- 
burgh,  Clermont  county,  Ohio,  for  many  years  the  capitol 
of  that  county,  and  in  1804  they  permanently  located  in 
Bethel,  where  they  resided  the  most  of  their  active  life. 

An  incident,  marking  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  that 
time  and  village,  must,  here,  have  an  honorable  record. 
The  proprietor  of  the  village  was  Obed  Donham,  who  laid 
it  out  in  1802.  He  was  from  Virginia,  and  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  church ;  and  in  donating  two  lots  to  the  Bap- 
tist denomination,  he  put  into  the  deed  of  conveyance 
the  following  record,  viz. :  "  I  also  give  two  lots  in  said 
town,  Nos.  80  and  180,  for  the  use  of  the  regular  Baptist 
church,  who  do  not  hold  slaves,  nor  commune  at  the 
Lord's  Table  with  those  who  do  practice  such  tyranny 
over  their  fellow  creatures — for  to  build  a  house  for  the 
worship  of  Almighty  God,  and  to  bury  the  dead,  and  for 
no  other  use."  Mr.  Morris  said,  for  this  act,  Mr.  Donham 
deserved  a  marble  monument.  The  removal  of  Thomas 
Morris  to  Clermont  proved  fortunate.  His  energies  found 
an  active  field  for  development  and  effort,  and  he  resolved 
to  be  a  successful  winner.  Without  friends,  without 
pecuniary  means,  with  a  growing  family,  without  a  pre- 
ceptor, and  with  few  books,  he  commenced,  in  1802,  the 
study  of  law.  Early  and  late  he  was  at  his  legal  books. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  29 

. 

After  the  hard  labors  of  the  day  were  over,  night  found 
him  at  his  studies  reading  Blackstone,  not  by  the  light 
of  an  astral  lamp,  nor  yet  by  the  common  light  of  a  tallow 
candle,  for  his  poverty  forbade  this  cheap  convenience, 
but  by  the  light  afforded  by  hickory  bark  or  a  clapboard 
in  his  cabin,  and  often  from  a  brick  kiln  which  he  was 
burning,  for  the  support  of  his  family. 

Under  these  formidable  difficulties,  with  a  resolute  pur- 
pose and  an  iron  will,  he  pushed  his  onward  way,  and 
reached  the  goal  before  him.  Completing  two  years  of 
study,  he  was  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney  and 
counsellor  at  law.  He  had  not  mistaken  his  profession 
or  his  powers.  He  soon  took  a  leading  position  as  a 
lawyer,  and  reputation  and  business  rapidly  accumu- 
lated. 

The  Bar  of  Clermont,  for  many  years,  was  distin- 
guished for  its  ability  in  its  home  and  visiting  lawyers. 
Benham,  Fox,  "W.  H.  Harrison,  jr.,  and  others  from  Cin- 
cinnati ;  Corwin,  from  Warren ;  Hamer,  from  Brown ; 
Martin  Marshall,  from  Kentucky;  and  Fishback,  now 
the  patriarch  of  the  legal  profession  in  Clermont,  men  of 
great  legal  attainments  and  intellectual  abilities,  were  the 
men  who  met  at  various  courts,  to  measure  weapons  with 
each  other.  Morris  was  among  the  first  of  that  circle  of 
distinguished  lawyers.  Before  a  jury,  there  were  none 
who  surpassed  him  in  power  and  effect.  Engaged  in 
almost  every  case  in  Court,  he  ever  maintained  an  emi- 
nence equal  to  the  highest,  and  was  a  successful  winner 
in  the  field  of  legal  honors. 

As  a  lawyer,  and  a  public  speaker,  he  quoted  more  fre- 
quently than  most  public  men,  from  the  Bible,  and  those 
quotations,  being  apt  and  accurate,  greatly  added  to  the 
collusiveness  of  his  arguments  before  a  jury.  His  readi- 
ness to  employ  the  Scriptures  to  confirm  his  sentiments 
showed  his  familiarity  with  them,  and  his  belief  in  their 
authority.  -.  . 

3 


26  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  when  making  a 
speech  on  the  monetary  interests  of  the  country,  and  the 
evils  resulting  from  the  credit  system,  tending  to  the 
destruction  of  self-independence,  he  cited  Bible  authority, 
that  "  the  borrower  is  servant  to*  the  lender."  A  co- 
Senator,  Mr.  Mangum,  of  North  Carolina,  with  great 
earnestness,  denied  the  truth  of  such  a  doctrine.  Mr. 
M.orris  replied,  that  the  authority  was  of  Divine  origin, 
and  ho  submitted  the  question  to  the  Senate,  whether  the 
Senator  or  the  Bible  was  of  the  highest  authority. 

A  successful  lawyer  for  forty  years,  yet  he  never 
encouraged  litigation.  "  It  ought  to  be,"  said  he,  "  our 
aim  to  prevent  litigation,  as  far  as  practicable  with  the 
rules  and  ends  of  justice."  His  services  as  a  lawyer  were 
rendered  as  willingly  and  energetically  to  the  poor  as  to 
the  rich.  Indeed  he  was  generally  on  the  side  of  the 
poor ;  if  it  had  not  been  so,  his  ability  as  an  advocate 
would  have  yielded  him  an  immense  fortune.  With  him 
the  right  was  the  great  leading  motive,  and  the  effort  to 
violate  it  stirred  the  strongest  energies  of  his  nature,  and 
brought  him  down  on  his  adversary  with  an  irresistible 
power  and  force. 

In  a  legal  contest  with  Benham,  an  able  lawyer,  in 
which  ho,  (Benham)  wielded  his  sarcasm  and  eloquence 
against  the  citizens  of  villages,  who,  he  affirmed,  when 
they  got  a  few  mechanics  and  one  or  two  professional 
men,  put  on  airs  of  importance  and  dignity — Mr.  Morris 
retorted  with  a  power  and  eloquence  that  was  felt  by  his 
distinguished  opponent.  He  contrasted  city  gentlemen 
with  the  free,  honest,  and  independent  citizens  in  country 
villages,  and  made  a  most  powerful  defense  of  the  noble 
position  and  honorable  calling  of  mechanics  and  laboring 
men.  The  vindication  and  triumph  were  complete.  Mr. 
Benham  said  afterward,  that  Morris  was  harder  to  van- 
quish than  any  lawyer  he  contended  with. 

In  a  case  of  great   importance,  before  the  Cctnrt. -of 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  27 

Brown  county,  he  desired  a  continuance  of  his  case,  a 
principal  witness  being  absent,  on  account  of  high  waters. 
The  Court  refused  the  motion  ;  and  Mr.  Morris  procured 
a  horse,  swam  the  stream,  and  with  his  witness  behind 
him,  returned  and  replunged  again  into  the  swollen 
stream,  entered  the  Court,  and  gained  his  case. 

These  incidents  are  illustrative  of  his  unconquerable 
energy,  as  well  as  of  his  ability  as  a  lawyer.  His  success 
had  a  significant  connection  with  his  reading  Blackstone, 
by  the  light  of  hickory  bark,  in  his  log-cabin. 


_  . . 


28 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


CHAPTER   V. 

ELECTED  to  the  Legislature — Early  Legislative  History  of  Ohio — Narrow 
escape  of  Freedom  in  the  Convention  —  Character  of  the  men  who 
framed  the  Constitution — Judge  Cutter — Character  of  the  Legislators 
of  Ohio,  for  the  first  thirty-five  years  —  Mr.  Morris's  position  as  a 
Legislator. 

IN  1806,  Mr.  Morris  was  elected  a  representative  from 
Clermont  county,  and  took  his  seat  at  Zanesville,  then 
the  capital  of  Ohio. 

The  early  legislation  of  Ohio  forms  one  of  the  bright- 
est and  most  honorable  historical  chapters  in  her  record. 
The  legislators,  to  whom  were  entrusted  the  task  of  con- 
structing the  organic  system  of  the  civil  government  of 
Ohio,  were  men  of  practical  wisdom,  and  of  just  and 
liberal  views.  Its  territorial  government  was  the  crea- 
tion of  the  living  breath  of  freedom.  The  Ordinance  of 
1787  laid  the  chief  corner  stone  in  the  structure  of  her 
greatness  and  prosperity ;  and  the  men  who  framed  the 
State  Constitution,  and  created  her  system  of  legislation, 
conformed  their  policy  to  this  great  charter  of  freedom. 
They  consecrated  the  State  to  Keligion,  Education,  and 
Freedom.  The  Bitt  of  Eights  declares,  "  That  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  for  crime,  shall 
exist  in  the  State ;  that  religion,  morality,  and  know- 
ledge, being  essentially  necessary  for  good  government, 
and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of 
instruction  shall  forever  be  encouraged  by  legislative 
provision ;  and  that  all  men  are  born  equally  free  and 
independent,  and  have  the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  of 
pursuing  and  obtaining  happiness  and  safety." 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS,  29 

These  enactments  saved  Ohio  from  the  blight  and  curse 
of  slavery.  The  slave  power,  however,  early  made  a 
strong  effort  to  gain  a  foothold  on  the  virgin  soil  of  Ohio. 
At  the  first  session  of  the  Territorial  legislature  which 
met,  February  4th,  1799,  in  Cincinnati,  petitions  were 
presented  by  many  Yirginians,  who  owned  lands  in  the 
Virginia  Military  Bounty  District,  west  of  the  Scioto 
river,  to  settle,  with  their  slaves,  on  their  own  lands. 
These  petitions  were  rejected  at  once.  The  legislature 
believed  that  the  Ordinance  of  1787  left  them  na  option  whatever, 
and  they  did  not  even  entertain  the  petitions. 

A  second  effort  was  made,  when  the  State  Constitution 
was  formed,  to  introduce  and  fix  slavery  upon  the  soil  of 
Ohio.  Presidential  power  was  used  then,  as  now,  to  give 
extension  to  the  system.  Jefferson  was  President;  and 
Jeremiah  Morrow,  Ohio's  first  representative  in  Con- 
gress, when  his  duties  called  him  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment, called  on  the  President,  who  expressed  to  him  his 
deep  regret  that  slavery  had  not  been  allowed  to  enter 
the  new  State.  The  reason  assigned  was,  that  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  over  a  large  area  tended  to  destroy  it.  A 
great  error,  as  the  history  of  American  slavery  mourn- 
fully confirms. 

In  the  convention  met  to  form  the  Constitution  of 
Ohio,  John  W.  Brown,  from  Hamilton  county,  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  the  Bill  of  Eights,  presented  a  sec- 
tion declaring  that,  "  No  person  shall  be  held  in  slavery, 
if  a  male,  after  he  is  thirty -jive  years  of  age;  and  if  a  female, 
after  twenty -five  years  of  age."  This  section  was  defeated 
by  the  heroic  firmness  of  Ephraim  Cutler,  of  Marietta. 
He  framed  the  eighth  section,  containing  the  Bill  of 
Rights,  in  which  slavery  was  forever  prohibited,  and  this 
section  was  incorporated  into  the  Constitution.  It  was 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Cutler,  that  the  section  allowing 
slavery,  in  a  modified  form,  originated  with  President 
Jefferson ;  and  Browne,  in  advocating  this  policy,  said — 


30  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

"  What  he  had  introduced  was  thought,  by  the  greatest 
men  in  the  nation,  to  be,  if  established  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, a  great  step  toward  the  general  emancipation  of  the 
slaves."  Mr.  Cutler,  in  view  of  the  narrow  escape  free- 
dom had,  in  this  contest  with  slavery,  made  in  his  journal 
the  following  record  :  "  Thus  an  overruling  Providence, 
by  His  wisdom,  makes  use  of  the  weak  often  to  defeat 
the  purpose  of  the  great  and  wise ;  and  to  His  name  be 
the  glory  and  praise." 

Let  Ohio  ever  honor  and  hold  in  grateful  remembrance 
the  services  and  memories  of  her  first  legislators,  and 
those  who  in  her  subsequent  history,  with  earnestness 
and  ability,  maintained  the  principles  of  freedom,  which 
gave  her  birth,  and  by  which  she  has  risen  to  unexam- 
pled prosperity  and  greatness. 

Judge  Burnet  says — "  The  delegates  who  framed  the 
Constitution  were,  with  but  few  exceptions,  the  most 
intelligent  men  in  the  counties."  Jeremiah  Morrow,  the 
first  representative  in  Congress,  afterward  senator  and 
governor,  a  man  who  was  ever  faithful  and  honest,  and 
who  died,  full  of  years  and  honors,  in  1852 ;  Dunlevy,  an 
early  pioneer  to  Columbia,  a  man  of  integrity  and  liberal 
education ;  John  Reily,  an  honored  citizen  of  Butler- 
county;  Tiffin  and  Worthington,  from  Boss,  and  Hung- 
tingdon,  from  Trumbull,  all  of  whom  were  Governors  of 
the  State ;  Cutler  and  Putnam,  from  "Washington  j  and 
Gatch  and  Sargeant,  from  Clermont,  were  among  the 
honored  men  who  successfully  labored,  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  State  Constitution  and  the  early  legislation  of 
Ohio.  Gatch  and  Sargeant  were  elected  because  they 
were  anti-slavery  men.  They  were  both  Virginians,  and 
both  were  practical  emancipators.  General  Harrison,  the 
Territorial  representative  from  Ohio,  in  Congress,  in  a 
public  letter,  written  in  1820,  when  a  candidate  for  Con- 
gress in  Ohio,  in  which  he  was  defending  himself  against 
the  charge  of  pro-slavery  sympathies,  refers  to  his  "ven«**v 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  31 

able   friend,   Philip   Gatch,   who   was   a  member   of  an 
abolition  society  in  Virginia." 

It  is  a  debt  of  gratitude  due  from  the  great  State  of 
Ohio  to  honor  the  memories,  and  to  perpetuate,  in  her 
historical  annals,  the  services  of  those  earliest  legislators 
and  founders  of  her  fame  and  greatness ;  men  who  orna- 
mented the  State  by  their  private  virtues  and  public 
labors.  In  this  catalogue  of  able  men  and  upright  legis- 
lators, who,  from  the  date  of  the  birth  of  Ohio,  through 
the  subsequent  thirty  years  of  her  legislative  history, 
aided  in  adjusting  and  perfecting  the  system  of  govern- 
ment, must  be  named — Jacob  Gurnet,  John  McLean, 
Ethan  Allen  Brown,  Charles  Hammond,  Benjamin  Tap- 
pan,  John  M.  Goodenou,  John  C.  Wright,  Elisha  Whittle- 
sey,  Samuel  M.  Vinton,  Joshua  Collet,  Reuben  Hitchcock, 
Allen  Trimble,  Duncan  McArthur,  Reuben  "Wood,  James 
Cooly,  Joseph  Vance,  and  others.  The  present  genera- 
tion, says  the  author  of  the  memoir  of  Judge  Hitchcock, 
know  but  little  of  the  treasures  of  knowledge  and  talent 
brought  to  Ohio  by  her  energetic  and  enterprising  pio- 
neers. The  present  generation  is  inclined,  most  errone- 
ously, to  arrogate  to  itself  superior  abilities,  in  proportion 
to  its  greater  facilities.  On  hearing  a  remark  claiming 
this  superiority,  the  reply  of  one  of  the  survivors  of  that 
day  was — "You  are  mistaken;  I  tell  you  there  were 
giants  at  the  West  in  those  days."  Nearly  all  of  those, 
distinguished  in  the  constitutional  and  legislative  history 
of  Ohio,  have  passed  away,  but  they  have  left  noble  monu- 
ments of  their  wisdom  and  labors. 

Thomas  Morris  was  among  the  ablest  and  wisest  of  the 
legislators  of  Ohio,  and  identified  during  a  long  period 
with  her  legislative  history,  being  a  member  of  the  Gene- 
ral Assembly  for  twenty -four  years,  and  connected  with 
the  politics  of  the  State  for  fifty  years. 


32 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

His  labors  and  influence  as  a  Legislator — Against  Liquor  Licenses  and 
Lotteries — Against  Prohibiting  the  Emigration  of  Colored  People  to 
Ohio— Speech  on  the  Rights  of  Conscience — On  Abolishing  Imprison- 
ment for  Debt— His  Faith  in  the  People— The  People  to  elect  all  Offi- 
cers— Jury  Trials  before  Justices — Internal  Improvements — Opposed 
to  the  Canal  System  of  Ohio — Prophecy  about  Railroads — A  Ride  in  a 

Canoe— A  Contrast. 

* 

IN  the  legislature  of  Ohio,  he  was  a  prominent  and 
active  participator.  His  abilities  soon  placed  him  among 
the  first  of  the  distinguished  men  who  from  year  to  year 
met  in  the  legislative  halls.  No  matter  what  party  was 
in  power,  he  was  chairman  of  the  most  important  com- 
mittees, most  generally  the  judiciary,  and  often  appointed 
on  special  committees.  His  influence,  in  the  judgment  of 
cotemporaries,  was  always  equal  to  any  in  the  legislature. 

As  a  legislator,  he  labored  for  the  equal  rights  of  all, 
and  to  conform  the  action  of  civil  government  to  the  true 
doctrines  of  democracy,  and  the  principles  of  justice  and 
Christian  morality.  He  was  opposed  to  all  chartered 
monopolies,  and  to  all  legislation  that  gave  one  class  civil 
privileges  above  another.  His  entire  legislative  history 
is  free  from  selfish  ambition,  and  in  general  accordance 
with  the  fundamental  principles  of  right  as  revealed  in 
the  Bible,  the  only  source  of  true  national  prosperity. 

He  believed  the  traffic  in  spiritous  liquors,  as  a  bever- 
age, was  a  moral  wrong,  and  on  all  occasions  voted  to 
restrain  the  evil,  by  putting  the  price  of  license  up  to  the 
highest  possible  sum,  so  as  to  prohibit  it  altogether.  He 
warmly  enlisted  in  the  great  Temperance  Enterprise,  and 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  33 

gave  it  his  influence  and  aid,  as  a  legislator  and  a  man, 
by  precept  and  example. 

He  voted  against  all  lotteries,  a  species  of  legislation 
not  then  uncommon  in  the  older  States.  In  1827,  a  bill  was 
introduced  to  aid  Ohio  in  her  system  of  canal  improve- 
ments; the  author  of  the  bill  affirming — "That  it  was 
good  policy,  while  the  lotteries  of  other  States  were  drain- 
ing specie  from  Ohio,  the  bill  would  have  a  tendency  to 
bring  some  back.  The  city  of  New  York,"  said  he,  "would 
buy  ten  or  fifteen  thousand  dollars  worth  of  tickets." 

Mr.  Morris,  regarding  it  as  immoral,  and  as  compromi- 
sing the  honor  of  the  State,  moved  its  rejection.  "  I  ob- 
ject to  it  on  the  score  of  morality  and  policy.  Suppose 
the  gentleman's  speech  is  printed  in  New  York,  what  a 
happy  tendency  it  would  have  to  procure  assistance  for 
the  construction  of  our  canal.  Their  opinion  of  our  re- 
sources would  be  greatly  increased,  when  they  perceived 
we  had  to  resort  to  the  pitiful  expediency  of  a  lottery,  to 
raise  funds  to  carry  on  our  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments. It  was  encouraging  a  species  of  gambling."  The 
bill  was  rejected  by  a  large  majority. 

An  effort  was  made  during  this  session  of  legislature, 
to  prohibit  by  penal  legislation,  the  future  immigration  of 
blacks  and  mulattoes  into  Ohio.  Faithful  to  the  rights  of 
man,  he  opposed  the  principles  of  the  bill,  as  unjust,  un- 
constitutional, and  odious.  It  was  rejected. 

This  session  also  witnessed  a  strong  effort  to  legislate 
on  the  rights  of  conscience.  A  bill  for  the  support  of 
common  schools  contained  a  clause  that  "  no  teacher 
should  teach  any  sectarian  creed,  catechism,  confession  of 
faith,  etc.,  unless  each  person  entitled  to  send  to  said 
school  shall  consent  to  the  same ;  and  any  teacher  viola- 
ting the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  fined." 

Mr.  Morris  made  an  able  speech  against  the  bill,  in 
which  he  advocated  the  great  Protestant  principle  of  the 


34  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

freedom  of  the  rights   of  conscience  in   religion.     That 
speech  contains  the  following  sound  doctrines  : 

"  I  meet  these  extraordinary  provisions,  with  the  broad 
denial  that  we  have  any  power  whatever  to  legislate  on 
this  subject.  The  right  of  conscience  is  an  inalienable 
right,  for  the  exercise  of  which  man  is  not  accountable 
to  man  :  he  is  accountable  to  no  power  short  of  that  of 
his  Creator.  It  is  a  religious  right  with  which  human 
laws  have  nothing  to  do.  The  right  of  belief  is  the  right 
of  the  individual,  not  of  the  community.  Yet  we  are,  as 
legislators,  about  to  say  that  if  any  individual,  as  a  school- 
master, shall  undertake  to  teach  what  he  believes  to  be 
just  and  right,  he  shall  be  subjected  to  a  penalty  inflicted 
by  the  judicial  officers  of  the  law,  and  this  too  under  the 
plausible  pretext  of  securing  the  rights  of  conscience. 
These  rights  of  worship,  these  dictates  of  conscience  are 
too  pure,  sublime  and  holy  to  be  touched  by  human  legis- 
lation. They  do  not  need  the  support  of  government, 
and  in  all  cases  where  the  secular  support  of  the  govern- 
ment have  attempted  to  support,  direct,  control,  or  in  any 
manner  interfere  therewith,  instead  of  causing  these 
rights  to  grow  and  flourish,  it  has  caused  them  to  wither, 
decay  and  die.  The  right  of  my  neighbor  to  worship  his 
Creator  as  his  conscience  dictates,  is  a  right  which  legis- 
lation ought  not  to  interfere  with.  It  is  his  person,  his 
place  of  worship,  his  place  as  a  citizen  while  engaged  in 
that  worship,  and  not  his  religious  faith,  that  our  law  can 
or  ought  to  protect. 

In  our  country  we  have  a  great  variety  of  religious 
sects.  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  Episcopalians, 
Quakers,  Unitarians,  and  others,  who  have  different  creeds 
and  confessions  of  faith ;  some  believing  in  the  Divine 
atonement,  and  others  believing  that  the  Saviour  of  men 
was  only  "  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life;  "  and  yet,  ac- 
cording to  this  bill,  our  children  are  to  be  taught  none  of 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  35 

these  doctrines  in  our  schools,  without  making  the  instruc- 
tor liable  to  the  penalty  of  this  law.  Suppose  the  pupil 
should  have  heard  of  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  should 
ask  his  instructor,  who  is  Jesus  Christ  ?  and  the  answer 
should  be  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  « The  Son  of  God, 
the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  God  made 
manifest  in  the  flesh  ;'  who  by  his  sufferings  and  death  made 
an  atonement  for  all  men.  This  would  be  teaching  sectarian 
principles  within  the  meaning  of  this  bill,  because  all  do 
not  believe  in  these  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity. 
Do  the  friends  of  this  bill  mean  that  the  use  of  the  Bible 
shall  be  prohibited  in  our  schools  ?  That  book  is  held  by 
all  denominations  to  be  their  only  creed  or  confession  of 
faith,  and  yet,  by  the  principles  of  this  bill,  under  pre- 
text of  securing  the  rights  of  conscience,  teachers  shall 
be  subject  to  a  fine  for  instructing  their  pupils  out  of  the 
Bible,  whence  all  profess  to  get  their  religious  creeds.  It 
is  constituting  the  officers  of  the  law  the  umpire,  to  de- 
cide what  is,  or  is  not,  sectarian  principles,  and  subjecting 
the  conscience  of  the  teacher  to  the  power  of  legislation. 
Even  parental  authority  strays  beyond  its  proper  bounds, 
when  it  shall  be  exercised  to  prohibit  the  child  who  has 
arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion,  from  the  examination 
of  each  and  every  sectarian  creed  and  religious  doctrine 
that  he  may  wish.  It  is  his  duty  to  interpose  with  paren- 
tal advice,  but  not  with  coercive  measures. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  law  for  the  support  of  common 
schools,  as  it  now  stands,  will  compel  the  sect  of  Christ- 
ians called  the  Friends  or  Quakers,  to  aid  in  the  support 
of  schools  to  which  they  can  not  conscientiously  send 
their  children,  and  that  this  numerous  and  respectable 
body  of  Christians  are  worthy  of  legislative  attention  and 
care.  As  a  legislator,  I  am  not  disposed  to  fasten  my 
political  car  to  the  chariot  of  any  particular  Christian 
sect.  I  respect  them  all,  and  acknowledge  with  gratitude 
the  beneficial  effects  of  their  labors  upon  the  lives  and 


36  LIFE     OP     SENATOR    MORRIS. 

conduct  of  men ;  but  as  a  legislator,  I  say  to  them  as 
Christians,  professing  any  sectarian  creed,  form,  catechism, 
article  or  confession  of  faith,  I  know  you  not ;  these  are 
yours,  and  in  the  exercise  thereof,  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  your  own  conscience,  I  will,  as  far  as  in  my 
power  as  a  legislator,  provide  that  every  one  of  you 
'  may  sit  under  your  own  vine  and  fig-tree,'  and  none 
shall  be  suffered  to  make  you  afraid  ;  but  your  doctrines 
and  your  faith  must  not  be  used  as  a  cloak  to  screen  you 
from  obedience  to  the  municipal  laws  of  your  country ; 
nor  can  we  give  any  of  you  a  preference ;  you  all  must 
'render  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's.' 

"  As  legislators,  we  have  the  right,  and  it  is  our  duty  to 
provide  for  the  support  and  regulation  of  schools;  but 
this  right  does  not  extend  to  any  acts  of  legislation  affect- 
ing creeds  or  articles  of  religious  faith,  but  to  cultivating 
the  human  intellect,  preparing  the  young  and  rising  gen- 
eration to  become  useful  members  of  society ;  and  to  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  so  essentially  necessary 
to  a  good  government ;  a  kind  of  State  property  we  are 
bound  to  increase  and  cultivate  with  the  most  assiduous 
care,  as  a  means  of  giving  perpetuity  to  our  political 
institutions. 

"  I  am  willing  to  leave  the  government  of  our  district 
schools,  in  reference  to  the  reading  of  creeds,  forms,  rules, 
articles  or  confessions  of  faith,  to  the  good  sound  sense 
and  sound  discretion  of  the  householders  in  each  district. 
It  is  the  only  safe  depository  of  that  power.  Virtue, 
public  virtue,  is  the  base  upon  which  the  superstructure 
of  our  government  is  raised  and  must  stand,  and  this  is 
found  among  the  people  in  larger  proportion  than  in  the 
halls  of  legislation.  Permit  me  to  say  to  the  Friends 
who  ask  for  this  special  legislation,  depart  in  peace.  Your 
religion  needs  not  the  support  of  human  legislation  ;  the 
weapons  of  your  warfare  are  not  carnal ;  cultivate  peace, 
.harmony  and  good  will  toward  all  men ;  be  obedient  to 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  37 

the  laws  of  your  country,  and  those  who  are  in  authority 
over  you ;  overcome  evil  with  good ;  and  by  a  holy  life 
and  an  upright  walk  and  conversation,  your  children,  the 
objects  of  your  care,  will  be  influenced  and  guided  by 
your  bright  example,  and  their  tender  minds  will  receive 
more  lasting  and  desirable  impressions  than  can  be  made 
by  the  teacher  of  your  district  schools,  though  he  be 
armed  with  all  the  sectarian  creeds  which  the  ingenuity, 
the  ambition  or  the  pride  of  man  has  ever  invented." 
The  bill  was  rejected. 

The  statute  book  of  Ohio,  with  many  other  States,  was 
for  years  dishonored  with  a  law  that  imprisoned  a  man 
for  inability  to  pay  his  debts.  This  relic  of  barbarous 
legislation  is  now  swept  away  by  the  progress  of  juster 
and  more  Christian  views.  For  its  extinction  in  Ohio, 
Mr.  Morris  labored  with  an  earnest  ability.  On  a  bill  for 
its  abolishment,  in  the  legislature,  he  made  an  able 
speech,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  made  : 

"  The  state  of  society  at  this  day  does  not  require  the 
dogmas  of  superstition,  the  precepts  of  ignorance,  nor 
the  conveniences  of  despotism  to  compel  the  payment  of 
debts.  The  force  of  moral  sentiment,  pfbperly  cultivated 
and  rightly  directed,  would  be  far  more  effectual  than  all 
the  bars  and  cells  of  your  prisons.  Abandon,  then,  this 
relic  of  oppression,  this  appeal  to  force  for  the  collection 
of  debts.  When  you  do  this,  that  moral  principle,  which 
has  a  thousand  times  more  influence  than  your  penal  laws, 
will  assume  its  place,  and  be  safely  relied  on.  From  what 
principle  do  the  great  body  of  your  citizens  act  in  the 
payment  of  debts  ?  From  the  fear  of  your  prisons  ?  No ; 
from  higher  and  more  exalted  motives ;  from  a  love  of 
truth  and  probity,  from  a  desire  to  preserve  a  good  name, 
which  is  more  precious  than  gold,  and  more  available  in 
life  than  all  the  wealth  this  world  can  afford.  I  hope, 
then,  Ohio  will  put  her  hand  in  earnest,  at  this  auspicious 
moment,  to  the  good  work.  She  is  emphatically  a  free 


38  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

State.  Her  Constitution  declares  that  no  slavery  shall  ex- 
ist within  her  borders,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment 
of  crime ;  yet  the  worst  of  all  slavery,  imprisonment  for 
non-payment  of  debt,  exists.  Let  it  no  longer  disgrace 
our  statute  book." 

As  a  legislator,  he  was  not  afraid  to  trust  the  people 
with  all  political  power,  and  to  transfer  to  them  the  elec- 
tion of  every  officer  required  in  the  administration  of  the 
government.  In  this  great  principle  of  a  democratic 
government  he  was  in  advance  of  his  cotemporaries.  The 
doctrine  is  now  popular,  to  make  all  offices,  even  judges 
of  our  courts,  elected  by  the  people.  It  was  advocated  by 
Mr.  Morris  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  in  the  legislature  of 
Ohio 

In  1828,  he  brought  in  a  bill  in  the  Senate,  to  allow 
juries  before  justices  of  the  peace,  and  in  its  defense  said, 
"  It  is  objected  to  this  bill  that  justices  of  the  peace  will 
be  rendered  almost  as  important  as  judges  of  the  court. 
I  fear  this  is  the  secret  spring  that  moves  all  the  other 
objections.  This  hankering  after  power,  this  desire  to 
concentrate  it  in  as  few  hands  as  possible,  this  kind  of 
judge  worship,  is  the  most  dangerous  spirit  abroad.  It  is 
not  the  ermine  of  the  Bench  that  ought  to  attract  our  no- 
tice, but  justice,  substantial  justice ;  and  all  the  ends  of 
justice  would  be  as  well  gained  before  justices  of  the 
peace,  if  we  would  allow  them  juries,  as  in  our  courts  of 
a  higher  grade." 

"  Justice  has  a  higher  and  more  perfect  origin  than  hu- 
man legislation.  It  can  not  be  found  in  the  dictum  of 
judges,  in  the  decrees  of  emperors,  or  in  the  maxims  of 
lawyers.  Its  best  and  only  legitimate  standard  is  traced 
by  the  finger  of  the  Creator  in  the  moral  nature  of  every 
man  ;  and  its  motto  is,  '  do  unto  all  men  as  you  would  have 
them  to  do  unto  you,'  and  the  nearest  we  can  approxi- 
mate to  justice  is  through  the  medium  of  a  trial  by  jury. 
The  trial  by  jury  is  our  security  for  the  liberties  we 


LIFB     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  3» 

enjoy,  our  protection  and  safety  ;  and  hence  it  is  political 
wisdom  and  sound  policy  to  extend  its  benefits  to  all  pos- 
sible cases. 

In  1829,  he  brought  in  a  bill,  that  judges  should  not 
charge  juries  as  to  matter  of  facts,  but  may  sum  up  the 
evidence  and  declare  the  law,  and  on  it  he  presented 
some  important  rules  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
"  That  jurors  are  judges  of  the  facts,  and  courts  of  the 
law,  are  obvious  truths,  and  to  keep  each  within  its  proper 
sphere  is  the  duty  of  the  legislature.  It  is  a  clear  depar- 
ture from  duty  in  a  judge,  to  undertake  to  explain  and  to 
instruct  the  jury  as  to  the  strength  and  applicability  of 
the  testimony.  It  is  stepping  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
own  power,  and  an  intrusion  into  that  which  the  law  has 
vested  in  a  distinct,  though  component  part  of  the  court. 
In  permitting  the  judge  to  forestall  the  opinion  of  jurors, 
as  to  the  facts  in  the  case,  you  deprive  the  citizen  of  the 
whole  benefit  intended  to  be  secured  by  a  trial  by  jury. 
You  mock  him  with  the  shadow,  while  in  truth  you  deny 
him  the  substance.  Moreover,  judges,  though  vested 
with  authority,  are  still  men,  subject  to  all  the  frailties, 
partialities  and  prejudices  of  other  men."  He  had  no 
faith  in  the  infallibility  of  courts. 

He  labored,  as  a  legislator,  to  keep  the  taxes  as  low  as 
the  necessity  of  the  government  would  permit,  and  op- 
posed all  extravagant  expenditures  of  the  public  money. 
He  held  to  the  doctrine  that  legislation  should  be  impar- 
tial, and  if  special  favors  were  granted,  the  industrial 
classes  should  receive  them.  In  1812,  he  obtained  the 
passage  of  a  bill,  "  That  each  person  who  has  a  family 
shall  be  allowed  to  hold  twelve  sheep,  also  the  wool,  and 
the  yarn  cloth  manufactured  by  such  families,  exempt 
from  all  executions  for  payment  of  debts.  In  1828,  he 
endeavored  to  obtain  a  law  taxing  all  chartered  institu- 
tions, and  such  manufactories  as  founderies,  glass-houses. 


40  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

mills  and  distilleries,   and  exempt  all  houses  in  each 
county  from  taxation. 

Ohio  was  the  first  western  State  to  enter  upon  a  sys- 
tem of  internal  improvements.  Canals  were  the  objects 
of  State  enterprise  then,  and  in  1825,  Ohio  began  the 
great  work  of  the  Ohio  Canal,  by  which  the  waters  of 
lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  river  were  to  be  united.  Gov. 
De  Witt  Clinton,  of  New  York,  designated  as  the  father 
of  internal  improvements,  was  officially  invited  to  visit 
Ohio.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  on  the  4th  of 
July,  1825,  the  forty-ninth  anniversary  of  American  inde- 
pendence, in  the  midst  of  a  vast  multitude  of  enthusias- 
tic citizens,  he  made  an  address,  and  formally  inaugura- 
ted the  canal  system  near  Newark,  Licking  county.  The 
Ohio  and  Erie  canal  was  completed  in  1831,  is  three  hun- 
dred and  nine  miles  long,  and  cost  the  State  about  five 
millions  of  dollars.  Mr.  Morris  strenuously  opposed  the 
system,  in  opposition  to  almost  all  of  the  public  men  of 
the  State.  He  declared  his  convictions  of  the  impracti- 
cal nature  of  such  a  system  to  develop  the  resources  of 
the  State,  and  which  would  involve  a  debt  of  many  mil- 
lions, which  never  could  be  paid  off  by  the  revenue  from 
the  canal.  "  I  am  an  unbeliever,"  he  said,"  in  the  visions 
of  future  wealth  from  the  profits  of  the  canal  system.  It 
would  render  the  State  insolvent." 

He  made  a  prophecy  which  has  been  fully  realized.  "In 
twenty-five  years,"  he  said,  "  Ohio  will  be  covered  with  a 
net- work  system  of  railroads,  and  canals  will  be  superse- 
ded." Ohio  has  now  2400  miles  of  road,  traversing  the 
State  in  every  direction,  augmenting  her  wealth  a  million 
fold.  A  confirmation  of  the  prophecy  and  sagacity  of 
Thomas  Morris. 

An  incident  will  illustrate  the  wonderful  progress  of 
Ohio,  and  the  present  rapid  transit  over  the  area  of  the 
State,  when  compared  with  her  condition  twenty-five 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 


41 


years  ago.  At  an  adjournment  of  the  legislature,  in 
March,  1827,  heavy  rains  had  made  the  ordinary  mud 
roads  from  the  capital  impassible  for  the  stage,  then  in 
common  use.  The  streams  were  overflowing  their  banks, 
rendering  a  homeward  return  of  the  members  almost  im- 
possible. Mr.  Morris  determined  to  conquer  all  obstacles. 
The  Scioto  river,  on  whose  banks  the  capital  of  Ohio  has 
stood  for  the  past  forty-five  years,  afforded  an  egress  for 
some  of  the  members.  A  canoe,  or,  in  Western  dialect,  a 
dug-out,  was  made  and  put  upon  the  rapid  current  of  the 
swollen  river,  and  Mr.  Morris  and  Robert  T.  Lytle,  an 
eloquent  and  able  representative  from  Hamilton  county, 
embarked  with  their  baggage  in  this  water-craft  for  home. 
A  passage  of  some  hundred  miles  brought  them  to  Ports- 
mouth, where  the  Scioto  mingles  its  waters  with  the  Ohio, 
and  there,  embarking  on  a  small  steamboat,  they  safely 
reached  their  homes,  after  a  perilous  journey  of  four  days. 
The  transit  now,  by  railroad,  from  the  capital  to  any  part 
of  Ohio,  occupies  but  four  hours. 


• 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Education  —  Colleges  and  Common  Schools — Advocate  of  the 
Common  School  System  —  Relation  of  Education  to  Government  — 
Female  Education  —  Commissioner  of  the  School  Fund — Taxation  for 
School  Purposes — Opposition  to  it— Looses  his  Election  on  account  of  it. 

OHIO  has  been,  in  her  legislative  history,  distinguished 
for  her  zeal  and  success  in  the  cause  of  popular  education. 
One  of  her  organic  laws  was — "  That  schools  and  the  meant 
of  instruction  shall  forever  be  encouraged  by  legislative  pro- 
vision;  and  to  promote,  as  an  object  of  primary  im- 
portance, institutions  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge," 
through  the  medium  of  common  schools,  has  been  the 
great  effort  of  the  legislation  of  Ohio.  Colleges  and  the 
higher  grades  of  seminaries  have  received  her  fostering 
supervision.  Congress,  in  1803,  donated  two  townships 
of  land  for  collegiate  purposes,  and  out  of  these  have 
been  erected  two  universities — the  Ohio  University,  at 
Athens,  and  Miami  University,  at  Oxford.  These,  as 
gifts  from  Congress,  have  been  preserved  and  fostered, 
but  have  never  received  any  special  endowment  from  the 
State.  The  establishment  of  a  system  of  common  schools, 
by  taxation,  was  the  great  end  of  the  legislation  of  Ohio, 
in  respect  to  education.  This  was  rightly  regarded  as 
indispensable  to  the  well-being  and  liberties  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Morris,  during  his  whole  legislative  history,  was  an 
ardent  and  able  friend  of  the  common  schools,  and  voted 
for  the  largest  accumulation  of  a  fund  devoted  to  this 
great  object.  His  views  are  presented,  in  brief  extracts, 
from  his  speeches  on  the  subject. 

"  Our  government,"  said   he,  in  1828,  "  is  a  beautiful 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  43 

machinery  made  up  not  of  parts,  but  of  the  whole  body 
of  the  people.  It  requires,  therefore,  not  the  aid  of  a  few, 
but  the  aid  of  all  to  keep  it  in  motion.  To  do  this,  every 
citizen  must  understand  all  its  parts  and  all  its  movements. 
He  must  possess  knowledge,  virtue,  and  intelligence ; 
because,  in  the  language  of  our  own  Constitution,  they 
are  essentially  necessary  to  good  government  and  the 
happiness  of  the  people.  To  provide  means  for  the 
instruction  of  all  is,  then,  a  duty  that  devolves  on  those 
who  are  called  to  administer  the  government.  This  is 
not  only  necessary  to  the  safety  and  correct  administra- 
tion of  the  government,  but  for  the  happiness  of  the 
people.  Let  us,  then,  be  faithful  to  this  great  duty,  so 
that  to  the  praise  and  honor  of  this  generation,  let  the 
next  say.  that  there  is  not  one  among  them  who  is  not 
able  to  read  the  Constitution  of  his  country.  This  will 
preserve  the  Constitution  more  securely  than  walls  of  ada- 
mant or  temples  of  brass.  Let  us  not,  either,  overlook 
female  education.  The  advancement  of  the  female  cha- 
racter, and  the  instruction  and  cultivation  which  woman 
receives,  has  always  been  justly  viewed  as  evidence  of 
the  improved  state  of  society  where  it  exists.  It  is,  there- 
fore, an  indispensable  duty  to  provide  for  female  educa- 
tion ;  for  knowledge  is  the  handmaid  of  virtue,  prudence, 
and  economy;  and  where  female  virtue,  knowledge,  and 
intelligence  abound,  man  can  never  be  degraded  or  a 
slave." 

The  salt  lands  in  the  Scioto  Valley  were,  by  Congress, 
given  to  Ohio  for  literary  purposes.  In  1826,  an  effort 
was  made  in  the  legislature  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  these 
lands  to  colleges.  Mr.  Morris,  said — "  These  lands  were 
ours  for  literary  purposes,  the  proceeds  to  be  devoted  to 
the  common  school  fund.  The  grant  of  Congress  is 
broad,  and  will  admit  the  appropriation  to  be  made  for 
the  improvement  of  the  human  mind.  Sound  policy  dic- 
tates that  we  should  apply  them  to  the  common  school 


44  LIFE   OF   SENATOR   MORRIS. 

fund,  since  we  have  the  right  to  do  so.  I  must  solemnly 
protest  against  applying  them  to  colleges,  in  the  present 
situation  of  the  State.  The  diffusion  of  knowledge  among 
the  people  is  first  to  be  regarded.  We  are  told  that  colleges 
must  be  encouraged,  in  order  to  raise  up  lawyers  and 
statesmen,  and  legislators.  What  is  this  but  going  a 
considerable  part  of  the  way  toward  constituting  a  Patri- 
cian class,  from  which,  those  who  are  to  administer  the 
government  are  only  to  be  chosen.  If  this  were  an  age 
of  mo«kish  ignorance,  and  it  were  necessary  to  protect  a 
privileged  order,  then  we  should  throw  our  means  into  a 
fund  for  their  support.  But  this  is  not  our  situation.  We 
have  undertaken  to  diffuse  knowledge  among  the  people, 
and  to  the  accomplishment  of  this  object  it  is  our  duty 
to  direct  all  our  attention." 

In  his  own  county,  he  was  active  in  his  efforts  to  build 
up  a  fund  for  the  support  of  common  schools.  He  brought 
the  funds,  appropriated  to  Clermont,  from  the  State 
treasury,  and  for  several  years,  acted  as  Commissioner 
of  the  County  School  Funds.  In  bringing  the  School 
Fund  into  existence,  he  says,  "  I  well  knew  that  I  was  in- 
curring great  personal  responsibility.  Conscious  of  the  rec- 
titude of  my  intentions,  and  the  purity  of  my  motives,  I  feel 
much  gratified  that  the  day  has  arrived  in  which  a  disin- 
terested tribunal,  under  the  authority  of  law,  can  furnish 
evidence  of  my  integrity  in  this  whole  matter.  I  have 
now  fulfilled  the  task  I  imposed  on  myself,  and  which  I 
have  long  had  in  view,  to  establish  the  means  by  which 
the  entire  youth  of  this  county  should  receive  a  common 
school  education.  Having  laid  the  foundation  of  a  fund  for 
that  purpose,  and  given  to^it  all  the  security,  system,  and 
order  of  which  I  was  capable,  I  yield  up  my  trust  under 
the  grateful  conviction,  that  my  agency,  in  establishing 
the  School  Fund  of  Clermont  county,  is  among  the  best 
acts  I  have  ever  been  able  to  perform  for  the  citizens  of 
the  county.'' 


LIFE   OF   SENATOR   MORRIS.  46 

Believing  that  popular  education  was  the  shield  of  free 
institutions,  giving  to  the  national  structure,  solidity  and 
perpetuity,  and  developing  the  elements  of  national  pros- 
perity and  greatness — Mr.  Morris,  in  the  legislature  of 
Ohio,  earnestly  advocated  taxation  for  school  purposes. 
Taxation  is  to  carry  on  the  functions  of  civil  government, 
and  intelligence  and  virtue  being  essential  to  the  opera- 
tions and  very  existence  of  free  governments,  it  is  the  first 
duty  of  a  free  people  to  tax  themselves  for  the  support  of 
universal  education.  Colleges,  seminaries,  and  common 
schools  are  nobler  fruits  of  taxation  than  penitentiaries, 
jails  and  poor  houses.  If  the  former  are  not  founded  and 
fostered  by  taxation,  the  latter  must  be,  for  an  uncultiva- 
ted people  must  be  a  vicious  people. 

Among  some  portions  of  the  American  people  formerly, 
there  was  an  unwillingness  to  be  taxed  for  the  support  of 
common  schools.  In  Ohio,  opposition  to  this  taxation 
was  manifested.  "  Fortunately,"  says  John  P.  Foote,  in 
his  work  on  "  The  schools  of  Cincinnati,"  "  men  of  intel- 
ligence, zeal,  and  industry,  from  different  States,  who  knew 
the  value  of  common  schools,  and  their  special  necessity 
in  a  State  with  such  an  ultra  Democratic  Constitution,  as 
was  the  first  Constitution  of  Ohio — were  fixed  in  their  de- 
termination never  to  cease  their  efforts  to  obtain  for  the 
State  a  system  of  free  schools,  until  it  should  be  successful, 
and  free  schools  be  among  the  established  institutions  of 
the  State.  They  succeeded  in  spite  of  much  opposition, 
and  more  lukewarmness,  and  now  the  system  is  firmly 
fixed  in  the  affections  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  is  con- 
sidered by  them  as  indispensable  an  element  of  their 
liberties,  and  guardian  of  our  free  institutions  as  the  trial 
by  jury,  the  freedom  of  the  press,  or  the  elective  fran- 
chise." 

As  a  legislator,  Mr.  Morris  was  among  the  most  active 
and  earnest  in  maintaining  the  doctrine  of  taxation  for 
education,  and  in  establishing  and  perfecting  a  system  of 


46 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


common  schools  in  Ohio.  This  measure  was  met  with 
much  opposition  in  his  own  county,  and  in  one  canvass,  he 
lost  his  election  for  State  Senator,  mainly  for  his  success- 
ful efforts  in  this  matter. 

Clermont  county  never  had  a  more  able,  honest,  and 
faithful  public  servant,  and  their  appreciation  of  his  ability 
and  fidelity  is  demonstrated  in  his  frequent  re-elections. 
He  represented  the  same  constituency  for  twenty-four 
years,  seventeen  of  them  consecutively,  a  rare  fact  in  the 
ceaseless  changes  to  which  public  men  are  liable,  under 
Democratic  institutions. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  47 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IMPEACHMENT  of  Judges — Morris  appointed  to  conduct  the  Trial — A  Se- 
lect Committee  on  Vermont  Resolutions  in  1809 — A  Select  Committee, 
in  1810,  on  the  Measures  of  the  General  Government — Supports  the 
War  in  1812— South  Carolina  Nullification  in  1832— Morris  a  Select 
Committee — His  Resolutions — Letter  of  Judge  McLean — Report  on 
Colonization. 

IN  1808-9,  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  preferred  articles  of 
impeachment  against  Calvin  Pease  and  John  Tod,  two  of 
the  judges  of  Ohio,  for  an  alleged  unconstitutional  inter- 
ference with  the  powers  and  duties  of  justices  of  the 
peace,  to  whom  jurisdiction  in  cases  not  exceeding  twenty 
dollars,  was  given.  This  was  decided  unconstitutional  by 
Judge  Pease,  of  the  District  Court,  and  confirmed  by 
Judges  Huntington  and  Tod,  a  majority  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  This  decision  was  made  in  view  of  the  seventh 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
which  declares  that  "In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the 
value  in  controversy  shall  exceed  twenty  dollars,  the 
right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved,"  and  the  eighth 
section  of  article  eighth,  which  declares  that  "  the  right 
of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  inviolate."  The  substance  of  the 
impeachment  charged  that  Judge  Pease  had,  on  various 
occasions,  decided  that  the  Court  had  full  power  to  set 
aside,  suspend  and  declare  null  and  void  any  act  of  the 
State  legislature,  and  that  this  had  been  done  by  the  judge, 
in  declaring  null  and  void  the  act  defining  the  duties  of 
justices  of  peace.  On  this  ground  the  impeachment  was 
made  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  the  judges  tried 
before  the  bar  oft  the  Senate.  Thomas  Morris  was  ap- 
pointed to  conduct  the  impeachment  on  the  part  of  tho 


* 
48  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

House  ;  and  the  historical  record  shows  that  he  performed 
the  duty  with  ability.  In  this  prosecution,  the  legisla- 
ture also  procured  the  aid  of  Judge  Baldwin,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  for  many  years  one 
of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
After  a  protracted  trial,  the  impeachment  was  not  sus- 
tained, the  Constitution  requiring  two-thirds  of  the  Sen- 
ate to  sustain. 

The  ability  with  which  Mr.  Morris  conducted  this  grave 
trial,  as  a  lawyer  and  leader  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, secured  for  him,  in  1809,  his  election  as  one  of  the 
Supreme  Judges  of  Ohio,  but  by  a  subsequent  act  of  the 
legislature,  called  the  "  Sweeping  Acts,"  he  was  preven- 
ted from  taking  his  seat. 

In  1809-10,  resolutions  were  sent  from  Vermont  to  the 
legislature  of  Ohio,  proposing  to  amend  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  so  as  to  remove  judges  of  the  courts 
of  the  United  States  upon  the  address  of  a  majority  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  two-thirds  of  the  Sen- 
ate. Mr.  Morris  was  appointed  a  select  committee  on  the 
Vermont  resolutions,  and  reported  that : 

The  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  viewing  all 
public  offices  as  belonging  to  the  people,  and  they  having 
a  right  to  bestow  them  as  they  may  deem  proper  ;  that 
the  officers  in  every  department  of  the  government  ought 
to  be  amenable  to  them  for  their  conduct ;  and  inasmuch 
as  all  government  is  established  for  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  the  people,  therefore,  when  any  public  servant 
ceases  to  merit  their  approbation,  they  have  at  all  times 
the  right  to  withdraw  their  confidence,  and  bestow  it  on 
such  others  as  they  may  deem  fit.  Therefore,  our  Sena- 
tors in  Congress  are  instructed,  and  the  members  of  the 
House  requested,  to  propose  this  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States." 

In  1810,  Mr.  Morris,  appointed  a  Gommittee  on  the 
measures  of  the  General  Government,  reported  as  follows : 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  49 

"  Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  tJte  State  of  Ohio, 
That  our  political  safety  depends  on  our  attachment  to, 
and  continuance  in  our  federal  relations  with  our  sister 
States,  and  we  pledge  ourselves  to  the  General  Govern- 
ment to  support  the  union  of  the  States  to  the  utmost  of 
our  power  ;  and  believing  as  we  do,  that  the  measures-of 
the  General  Government  are  directed  by  sound  policy,  and 
with  the  welfare  of  all  in  view,  we  hesitate  not  to  say, 
that  Ohio  will  be  found  ever  ready  to  support  such  meas- 
ures as  Congress  may  direct  for  securing  our  rights,  sove- 
reignty and  independence." 

Mr.  Madison  was  then  President,  and  war  with  Great 
Britain  was  anticipated,  and  was  declared  by  Congress 
in  1812.  Mr.  Morris  was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  that 
war,  and  during  its  continuance  was  a  member  of  the 
legislature  of  Ohio,  and  on  committees  which  reported 
such  resolutions  as  this,  which  the  legislature  adopted : 
"  Resolved,  That  this  General  Assembly  pledge  themselves 
to  their  country,  and  with  all  their  means  and  energies 
to  aid  in  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  present  just  and 
necessary  war,  until  a  safe  and  honorable  peace  can  be 
obtained."  Peace  was  concluded  in  1815. 

In  1832,  South  Carolina,  aggrieved,  as  she  declared,  on 
account  of  oppressive  tariff  measures  by  the  General 
Government,  threatened  a  nullification  of  the  law,  and 
resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  General  Government. 
President  Jackson  issued  his  proclamation,  a  very  able 
State  paper,  warning  them  to  desist  from  their  treasona- 
ble course.  Great  political  excitement  and  fears  pervaded 
the  country.  The  different  States,  by  their  legislatures 
passed  resolutions  generally  approving  the  measures  of 
the  General  Government.  Ohio  threw  her  influence  on 
the  side  of  the  General  Government.  Mr.  Morris,  then. a 
member  of  the  Senate,  was  appointed  a  select  committee, 
to  whom  was  referred  "  the  ordinance  of  the  Convention 
5 


50  LIFE    OF     SENATOR    MORRIS. 

of  the  people  of  South   Carolina,"  and  reported  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions : 

"  Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio, 
That  we  view  with  the  deepest  regret  the  unhappy  move- 
ments and  apparent  determination  of  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  to  nullify  the  laws  of  the  General  Government, 
made  in  conformity  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Federal  Union  exists  in  a  solid 
compact  entered  into  by  the  voluntary  consent  of  each 
and  every  State ;  and  that  therefore  no  State  can  claim 
the  right  to  secede  from  or  violate  that  compact;  and 
however  grievous  may  be  the  supposed  or  real  burthens 
of  the  State,  the  only  legitimate  remedy  is  in  the  wise 
and  faithful  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise,  and  the 
solemn  responsibility  of  the  public  agents. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  doctrine  that  a  State  has  the  power 
to  nullify  a  law  of  the  General  Government,  is  revolu- 
tionary in  its  character,  and  is,  in  its  nature,  calculated 
to  overthrow  the  great  temple  of  American  liberty;  and 
that  such  a  course  can  not  absolve  that  allegiance  which 
the  people  owe  to  the  supremacy  of  the  laws. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  levying  and  collecting  duties,  im- 
posts and  excises,  while  the  general  good  should  be  the 
primary  object,  a  special  regard  should  be  had  to  the  end ; 
that  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  every  section  of  the 
country  should  be  equally  consulted,  and  its  burdens 
proportionably  distributed. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  first  object  of  the  American  people 
should  be  to  cherish  the  most  ardent  attachment  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  Union ;  and,  as  a  first  and 
paramount  object  of  a  free  people,  we  should  use  every 
laudable  means  to  preserve  the  Union  of  these  States. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will  support  the  General  Govern- 
ment in  all  its  Constitutional  measures  to  maintain  peace 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  51 

and  harmony  between  the  several  States,  and  preserve 
the  honor  and  integrity  of  the  Union." 

During  the  agitation  of  this  subject  in  the  legislature 
of  Ohio,  John  McLean,  then  and  now  an  able  and  upright 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  whose 
private  life  and  civic  services  have  ornamented  the  history 
of  Ohio  and  the  nation,  wrote  to  Mr.  Morris  the  following 
patriotic  letter.  It  shows  the  feeling  that  pervaded  the 
minds  of  public  men  at  that  crisis. 
"  , 

WASHINGTON,  23d  January,  1833. 

DEAR  SIR — 1  have  not  yet  seen  any  expression  of  our 
legislature  respecting  the  movements  of  South  Carolina, 

yttd  the  steps  taken  by  the  President  to  counteract  those 
lovements.     It  is  not  my  intention  or  wish  to  indicate 
ny  opinion  upon  the  subject,  further  than  to  say — if 
ou  should  act,  I  hope  you  will  recommend  forbearance 
on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government.     I  do  not  mean 
by  this,  that  there  should  be  no  action  on  the  part  of 
the  General  Government ;    but  I  wish  to   see  the  law 
take    its    ordinary  course,  without    any  extraordinary 
preparation  to  enforce  it;   and  I  should  deprecate  the 
employment  of  force,  except  to  give  effect  to  the  laws, 
by  aiding  the  proper  officers  of  the  courts  in  the  service 
of  their  process.     This  will  give  time  to  our  erring  fel- 
low citizens  of  South  Carolina  to  reflect  on  their  course, 
and  this,  I  should  hope,  would  bring  them  to  a  sense  of 
their  duty. 

The  Proclamation  has  had  the  effect  in  the  South, 
which  I  had  no  doubt  from  the  first,  it  would  have,  to 
exasperate  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  and  greatly 
strengthen  their  cause  in  Virginia  and  the  other  Southern 
States.  The  late  message  will,  I  fear,  increase  this  feel- 
ing. Do  not  understand  me  as  questioning  the  motives 
which  led  to  these  measures,  or  as  excusing,  in  any  de- 
gree, the  consequences  which  bare  followed  them.  Both 


52  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

measures  should  have  produced  very  different  effects ;  but 
we  must,  in  anticipating  results,  consider  men  as  they 
are,  not  as  they  should  be. 

General  Jackson  has  great  popularity  in  the  South,  and 
on  this  ground  alone,  I  do  not  see  how  any  one  can  regret 
his  re-election.  But  there  is  danger  of  too  much  action. 
I  have  more  fears  from  this,  than  from  the  unconsti- 
tutional edicts  of  South  Carolina.  Strongly  as  I  feel 
opposed  to  their  principles,  I  had  rather  see  the  tariff-law 
suspended  in  that  State,  for  a  season,  than  that  one  drop 
of  blood  should  be  spilt.  From  this  suspension  no  lasting 
injury  could  result  to  the  Union,  and  the  instruments 
who  had  obstructed  the  law  would  be  eventually  held 
responsible  to  the  country,  and  to  individuals  who  had 
suffered  damage ;  but  if  the  Federal  forces  should  meet 
in  conflict  those  of  South  Carolina,  I  shall  despair  of  ever 
seeing  harmony  restored.  A  case  may  occur  in  which  t 
resort  to  physical  force  may  be  necessary  against  a  part 
of  our  fellow  citizens,  but  nothing  short  of  the  revolution 
of  the  country  should  justify  such  a  procedure. 

Suppose,  during  the  late  war,  an  army  had  been 
marched  against  Massachusetts  and  the  Hartford  Con- 
vention, what  would  have  been  the  consequences  ?  The 
Union  would  have  been  dissolved.  Of  this  no  one  can 
doubt,  who  took  a  part  in  the  political  action  of  that  day. 
Mild  measures  were  pursued,  and  no  extraordinary  action 
of  the  Government  was  directed  against  any  of  the  refrac- 
tory States.  Time  was  given  for  reflection,  and  public 
sentiment  applied  the  necessary  correction. 

A  bill  is  now  before  the  Senate,  which,  if  it  shall 
become  a  law  in  its  present  shape,  I  fear  may  produce 
much  mischief.  If  we  shall  be  urged  on  by  feelings  of 
resentment,  and  in  the  exercise  of  extraordinary  powers 
attempt  to  crush  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  there  will 
be  an  end  of  our  Government  in  a  short  time.  I  tremble 
at  the  gulf  which  lies  before  us.  Shall  this  glorious 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  53 

heritage  which  is  the  admiration  of  the  world,  and  our 
greatest  pride,  be  destroyed  ?  I  assure  you,  our  govern- 
ment is  in  danger,  and  we  should  all  contribute  our  best 
efforts  to  preserve  it.  With  great  respect,  yours, 

JOHN  McLEAN. 
HON.  T.  MORRIS. 

REPORT   ON   COLONIZATION. 

During  the  session  of  the  legislature,  in  1831-2,  numer- 
ous petitions  were  presented,  asking  appropriations  for 
the  purpose  of  colonizing  the  free  people  of  color  in 
Ohio,  in  the  Republic  of  Liberia,  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
Mr.  Morris  was  appointed  a  select  committee  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  reported  the  preamble  and  resolutions  here 
inserted.  The  colonization  scheme  may  accomplish  a  good 
work  in  the  illumination  and  regeneration  of  Africa,  but 
as  a  remedy  for  the  evils  of  American  slavery,  is  vision- 
ary. Emancipation  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  or 
perpetual  slavery,  is  the  only  alternative.  Mr.  Morris, 
in  his  efforts  against  slavery  and  the  slave  power  of 
the  country,  during  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  neither 
attacked  nor  defended  the  colonization  scheme. 

Mr.  Morris,  from  the  Committee  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  reported  the  following 

PREAMBLE    AND   RESOLUTIONS, 

ON    THE     SUBJECT    OF    THE    COLONIZATION     SOCIETY. 

Although  we  believe  the  existence  of  slavery  in  these 
United  States  is  a  moral  evil,  as  well  as  a  national  calam- 
ity, and  we  recognize  to  its  fullest  extent  the  doctrine 
that  all  men  are  created  EQUAL,  "  That  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that 
among  these  are  life,  LIBERTY  AND  THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAP- 
PINESS," and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  to  aid,  as  far  as  his  situation  will  reasona- 
bly permit,  in  extending  these  inestimable  blessings  to 


54  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  colored  population  of  our  country.  This  General 
Assembly  can  not  for  a  moment  entertain  the  belief  that 
slavery,  which  is  undoubtedly  our  greatest  national  sin, 
has  been  the  consequence  of  any  particular  State  regula- 
tion, or  that  it  ought  to  be  viewed  as  a  local,  and  not  a 
general  misfortune ;  the  curse  is  upon  us  all,  and  it  is  now 
vain  and  useless  to  inquire  by  what  means  it  was  first 
introduced.  The  States,  in  the  adoption  of  the  federal  com- 
pact, recognize  slavery  among  the  existing  order  of 
things,  by  declaring  that  Congress  should  not  prohibit 
the  migration  to,  or  importation  of,  any  person  into  any 
of  the  States  then  existing,  as  they  should  think  proper, 
prior  to  the  year  1808 ;  and  also  by  further  declaring  that 
no  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  any  State,  under  the 
laws  thereof,  should,  by  escaping  into  any  other  State,  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein ;  but  should  be  delivered 
up  on  the  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  labor  or  ser- 
vice was  due. 

Although  Ohio  is  emphatically  a  free  State,  whose  ter- 
ritory and  climate  have  never  been  contaminated  by  the 
withering  influence  of  slavery ;  nor  has  the  cultivation  or 
improvement  of  her  soil  been  extorted  from  the  unwilling 
hand  of  the  laborer — yet  we  disclaim  all  right  to  interfere 
between  the  slave  and  his  owner  in  a  political  view  of 
the  subject,  nor  will  we  inquire  into  the  policy  or  justice  of 
the  laws  of  our  sister  States,  which  acknowledge  the 
existence  of  slavery.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  citizens  of  Ohio 
to  know  that  any  portion  of  the  human  family  are  suf- 
fering from  the  existence  of  slavery  or  any  other  cause, 
to  induce  them  to  lend  their  aid  as  far  as  the  dictates  of 
prudence  and  humanity  shall  require,  without  stopping 
to  examine  whether  they  are  under  any  legal  or  Constitu- 
tional obligation  to  do  so. 

This  General  Assembly  are  not  insensible  to  the  horror 
and  heart-rending  scenes  that  must  ensue  from  servile 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  55 

• 

war  waged  by  the  colored  population  of  our  country,  and 
should  it  by  any  possibility  prove  successful  in  the  slave- 
holding  States,  that  the  peace  of  our  own  firesides,  and 
the  repose  of  our  citizens  would  soon  be  assailed  by  the 
fell  destroyer.  Such  war  could  admit  of  no  prelude,  it 
would  not  be  a  war  of  conquest,  but  of  extermination  of 
one  or  the  other  race,  including  all  ages,  sexes  and  condi- 
tions. This  General  Assembly  believe  that  no  man,  who 
reflects  seriously  on  the  subject,  can  entertain  the  idea 
that  domestic  slavery,  in  this  country,  under  the  influence 
of  our  free  institutions,  can  be  perpetual;  but  that  the 
time  is  not  far  in  advance  when  it  must  terminate,  either 
by  the  terrible  scourge  of  insurrection,  or  by  the  wisdom, 
justice  and  liberality  of  our  people. 

To  preserve  this  favored  land  from  the  punishment 
which  justice  demands  for  this,  her  National  sin,  Provi- 
dence in  the  Colonization  Society,  has  opened  to  us  a  door 
of  hope.  To  the  oppressed  it  is  the  pillar  of  fire  and  the 
cloud  that  leads  to  the  land  of  their  fathers ;  and  it  has 
begun  the  good  work  in  our  own  land,  and  laid  the  found- 
ation of  a  system  which,  if  its  operations  could  be  com- 
mensurate to  the  object,  would  not  only  free  our  country 
from  the  alarming  crisis  to  which  she  seems  fast  hasten- 
ing, but  would  also  restore  to  the  indubitable  rights  of 
man  and  the  country  of  their  fathers,  the  long  oppressed 
sons  of  Africa.  And  we  believe  that  not  only  justice, 
duty  and  the  honor  of  our  people,  demand  that  we  should 
lend  a  helping  hand  to  assist  that  society  in  the  great  un- 
dertaking ;  but  that  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  our  coun- 
try, imperiously  require  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  should  take  the  subject  under  their  consideration, 
and  afford  such  additional  aid  as  may  be  in  its  power. 

It  is  hoped  and  sincerely  believed,  that  the  opinion  of 
this  General  Assembly,  on  the  difficult  and  important 
question  of  freeing  our  country  from  its  colored  popula- 
tion, will  not  be  considered  as  obtrusive,  but  received  with 


56  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  same  spirit  of  affection  and  regard  with  which  it  is 
offered. 

All  must  be  aware  of  the  need  of  an  early  attention  to  this 
matter,  and  that  time  will  be  necessary  for  its  completion  ; 
and  although  we  have  been  aroused  to  reflection  by  scenes 
shocking  to  humanity,  yet  it  is  a  melancholy  pleasure 
that  it  has  been  at  a  time  well  suited  to  the  benevolent 
exertions  of  our  fellow  citizens.  Our  country  is  at  peace 
with  foreign  powers,  and  her  resources  commensurate 
with  the  object  to  be  attained. 

It  is,  therefore,  seriously  recommended  to  this  people,  as 
well  as  the  government  of  the  United  States,  whether  it 
is  not  worthy  of  the  attention  of  Congress,  as  well  as  the 
different  State  legislatures,  to  extend  their  care  and  fos- 
tering hand  to  the  benevolent  -efforts  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  by  affording  pecuniary  supplies  and  the  means 
of  transportation,  to  all  free  persons  of  color  who  are  wil- 
ling to  emigrate  to  Liberia.  This  would  not  only  be  an 
act  of  naked  justice  to  this  long  oppressed  race  of  men, 
but  seems  to  be  required  as  the  only  means  of  preventing 
the  shedding  of  human  blood,  and  as  a  necessary  measure 
for  the  security  of  ourselves  and  our  posterity. 

Resolved,  therefore,  That  the  benevolent  exertions  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society  are  entitled  to  the  appro- 
bation of  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States ; 
and  that  our  Senators  and  [Representatives  are  requested 
to  use  their  influence  to  bring  this  question  to  the  atten- 
tion of  Congress,  and  to  prevail  upon  that  body  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  may  be  within  their  Constitutional  pow- 
ers, for  the  removal  of  the  colored  population  from  the 
several  States  in  the  Union,  and  their  settlement  in  Liberia. 

Resolved,  That  should  Congress  doubt  their  power  to 
make  appropriations  of  money  from  the  national  trea- 
sury for  that  purpose,  it  is  recommended  that  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  be  so  amended  as  to  give  such 
power. 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  57 

Resolved,  That  we  recommend  to  the  citizens  of  this 
State  to  form  Colonization  Societies  in  their  different  set- 
tlements and  neighborhoods,  and  make  such  yearly  con- 
tributions as  may  reasonably  be  within  their  power  in  aid 
of  the  parent  society 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  pay  out  of  his  contingent 
fund  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  to  aid  the  Coloni- 
zation Society  to  remove  to  Liberia  any  persons  of  color 
now  residents  of  this  State,  and  who  shall  apply  to  the 
Governor  and  obtain  his  certificate  for  that  purpose,  until 
the  amount  shall  be  expended  according  to  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  the  Society. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  hereby  recommended  to  the  colored 
male  population  residing  in  this  State,  to  meet  in  their 
respective  settlements  or  neighborhoods,  and  choose  one 
or  more  of  their  number  to  meet  in  convention  at  Colum- 
bus, on  the  fourth  day  of  July  next,  for  the  purpose  of 
selecting  some  person  of  color  to  go  to  Liberia,  to  exam- 
ine the  country,  and  to  report  to  them  on  his  return,  its 
advantages  or  disadvantages  as  a  place  of  settlement  for 
the  colored  people,  with  such  other  facts  as  he  may  be 
instructed  to  inquire  into  by  the  Colonization  Society  ; 
and  should  such  person  be  so  selected  as  shall  be  approved 
by  the  Governor,  his  expenses  shall  be  paid  out  of  the 
Governor's  contingent  fund ;  and  that  such  person  proceed 
to  Liberia  and  return,  under  the  order  and  protection  of 
the  American  Colonization  Society. 


58 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


His  Radical  Democracy — Learned  from  the  Bible  and  the  Teachers  in  the 
Democratic  School — Not  a  Bigoted  Partisan — Earnest  Advocate  of  the 
Doctrines  of  True  Democracy — His  Popularity — Tendered  the  Nomina- 
tion of  United  States  Senator  in  1826 — Elected  Senator  in  Congress  in 
1832 — His  Election  Greeted  with  Enthusiasm —Letter  of  Judge  Reuben 
Wood — Resolution  against  the  United  States  Bank — Letter  from  Wash- 
ington City. 

THE  political  creed  of  Thomas  Morris  was  radically  Dem- 
ocratic. True  Democracy  is  the  creation  of  a  true  Chris- 
tianity, and  shields  the  rights  and  interests  of  every  man. 
"  It  is  a  sentiment  not  to  be  appalled,  corrupted,  nor  com- 
promised. It  knows  no  baseness  ;  it  cowers  to  no  danger; 
it  oppresses  no  weakness.  Fearless,  generous  and  humane, 
it  rebukes  arrogance,  cherishes  honor,  and  sympathizes 
with  the  humble.  It  is  a  sentiment  of  freedom,  of  equal 
rights,  of  equal  obligations.  It  is  the  law  of  nature  and 
of  the  Bible  pervading  the  law  of  the  land."  In  the  ap- 
plication of  its  doctrines,  and  in  its  progress  and  achieve- 
ments, it  will  consecrate  forever  to  freedom,  the  soil  of 
every  country,  and  "  unbind  every  burden,  preach  deliver- 
ance to  every  captive,  and  let  the  oppressed  of  all  nations 
go  free." 

It  was  with  the  true  Democracy  that  Thomas  Morris 
was  in  principle,  in  every  impulse  and  effort  of  his  life 
identified.  He  received  his  first  lessons  in  the  home-school 
of  his  mother,  and  in  youth  and  manhood,  from  those  who 
were  regarded  as  the  oracles  and  apostles  of  Democracy. 
He  was  a  disciple  in  the  Jefferson ian  school  of  politics. 
In  1829,  he  said  "  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  we  have 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  59 

the  first  evidence  of  the  power  of  that  vital  principle  of 
liberty  contained  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Under  his  administration  the  great  principles  of  civil  and 
Constitutional  liberty  produced  their  desired  effect.  The 
administration  of  Jefferson  will  be  viewed  as  the  true  re- 
publigan  standard  for  the  government  of  the  United  States 
in  ages  to  come." 

His  hatred  to  slavery  was  intensified  from  the  lessons 
of  Jefferson.  "  "Who  taught  me,"  said  he,  in  the  Senate  of 
the  [Jnited  States,  "  to  hate  slavery  and  every  other  op- 
pression? Jefferson,  the  great  and  good  Jefferson!  yes, 
Virginia  Senators,  it  was  your  own  Jefferson,  Virginia's 
favorite  son,  who  did  more  for  the  natural  liberty  of  man- 
kind, and  the  civil  liberty  of  his  country,  than  any  man 
who  ever  lived  in  our  country — it  was  he  who  taught  me 
to  hate  slavery ;  it  was  in  his  school  I  was  brought  up.  If 
I  am,  sir,  an  Abolitionist,  Jefferson  made  me  one ;  and  I 
only  regret  that  the  disciple  should  be  so  far  behind  the 
master  both  in  doctrine  and  practice." 

His  love  of,  and  devotion  to  true  Democracy  was  a 
passion  of  his  soul,  rooted  and  grounded  in  his  nature. 
"  He  was  called  a  partisan ;  but  he  only  seemed  so  to  his 
political  opponents.  His  fearless  independence,  and  his 
fidelity  to  the  moral  and  political  convictions  of  his  nature, 
rendered  him  constitutionally  incapable  of  working  in  the 
traces  of  party.  It  was  only  when  they  sustained  the 
principles  which  ho  believed  and  loved,  that  he  sympa- 
thized with  them  and  advocated  their  measures.  There 
was  an  independent,  straightforward  determination  to  go 
for  his  principles,  which  allowed  no  compromise  with  his 
opponents,  and  no  communion  with  temporizing  friends." 
"I  follow  party,"  said  he,  "where  the  Constitution  and 
principle  lead,  and  where  men  attempt  to  take  their 
place,  I  halt.  I  choose  to  rely  on  the  Constitution  and 
that  moral  principle,  which  ought  to  govern  the  actions  of 
men  in  all  situations  and  under  all  circumstances." 


60  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

"  His  plain,  direct,  honest  and  passionate  advocacy  of 
the  principles  of  the  Democratic  school,  impressed  them 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  and  prepared  them  to  sus- 
tain the  measures  of  his  party.  For  a  length  of  time  he 
seemed  to  be  the  presiding  genius  of  the  Democratic  party 
in  Ohio.  Against  him  were  aimed  the  shafts  of  the  op- 
position, and  upon  him  were  the  eyes  of  the  Democracy 
as  the  great  champion  of  their  cause.  But  it  was  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  that  Thomas  Morris  proved 
himself,  not  a  man  for  his  party,  but  a  man  for  his  country. 
Disdaining  to  wear  the  shackles  of  a  party,  and  indignant 
that  the  leaders  of  the  Democracy  should  yield  their  necks 
to  the  yoke  of  the  slaveholding  oligarchy,  he  stood  in  the 
august  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  single  champion 
of  universal  freedom  to  man." 

His  able  and  fearless  devotion  to  the  doctrines  of  true 
Democracy  made  him  popular  with  the  people.  In  1826, 
the  Democratic  party  tendered  him  the  nomination  of 
United  States  Senator,  in  opposition  to  Judge  Burnet, 
but  the  party  being  in  the  minority,  he  declined.  In  1832, 
on  the  15th  day  of  December,  the  Democracy  again  put 
him  in  nomination,  and  he  was  elected  Senator  in  Con- 
gress, for  six  years.  The  fall  previous,  he  was  put  in 
nomination  by  the  Democratic  party,  in  his  district,  for 
Eepresentative  in  Congress,  but  owing  to  a  division  in 
the  party,  by  an  independent  Democratic  candidate,  he 
was  defeated,  in  a  popular  vote  of  6276  by  156. 

His  election  as  Senator,  was  hailed  by  the  Democratic 
party  in  Ohio,  with  hearty  and  general  approbation.  The 
organ  of  the  party  at  the  Capitol  of  the  State  said  :  "To 
the  republican  cause  of  Ohio,  it  is  cheering  to  reflect  that 
a  gentleman  of  his  known  firmness,  high  order  of 
talents  and  great  experience,  has  weathered  the  political 
storm,  and  succeeded  in  an  election  to  a  station  where  his 
ability  and  faithfulness  will  find  ample  scope  for  future 
usefulness  to  his  country." 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  61 

• 

Another  leading  Democratic  organ  declared  on  his 
election,  that  "  Mr.  Morris  is  the  only  Senator  Ohio  has 
had  for  a  long  time,  who  firmly  held  the  pure  Democratic 
faith,  of  a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  open  war  against  all  peculiar  privi- 
leges and  monopolies." 

Eeuben  Wood,  a  distinguished  Democrat,  honored  with 
the  governorship,  and  Supreme  Judge,  of  Ohio,  and  long  the 
personal  and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Morris,  on  his  election 
to  the  Senatorship,  wrote  :  "  Permit  me  to  say,  and  I  do 
not  intend  it  as  a  common -place  remark,  that  I  most  sin- 
cerely congratulate,  not  only  yourself,  but  the  Democratic 
party,  on  your  re-election  to  fill  the  highest,  most  respon- 
sible, and  at  this  peculiar  crisis — the  most  difficult  and 
important  office  in  the  gift  of  the  Legislature.  The  Dem- 
ocracy of  Ohio,  may  safely  rely  on  being  faithfully  and 
fearlessly  represented  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States ; 
and  my  sincere  wishes  are,  that  the  Democracy  of  the 
State,  hereafter,  may  keep  that  ascendancy  which  it  has 
cost  so  much  strife  and  exertion  to  obtain,  and,  at  a  future 
period,  again  will  be  willing  to  reward  you  with  the 
continuance  of  its  approbation  and  confidence." 

At  that  period,  subsequent  to  his  election,  on  the  8th 
of  January,  1832,  the  Democratic  party  held  their  State 
Convention.  In  that  convention,  Mr.  Morris  offered  a 
strong  resolution  against  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
which,  after  a  stormy  debate,  was  adopted.  A  prominent 
member  of  the  party,  then  holding  a  high  office  at  Wash- 
ington, wrote,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention,  to 
Mr.  Morris,  as  follows :  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that 
you  merit  the  gratitude  and  the  patronage  of  the  whole 
Democratic  party  of  the  country,  for  your  prompt,  active, 
decisive  and  truly  republican  course  in  that  convention 
of  Ohio,  on  that  trying  and  critical  occasion ;  and  for 
which  you  ought  to  receive  the  thanks  of  the  party,  and 


62 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


the  patronage  and  favor  of  the  Government.  It  places 
Ohio  in  the  front  rank  of  the  Democracy  of  the  country, 
and  redeems  her  character  from  the  imputation  of  being 
governed  by  the  influence  of  a  Monied  Monopoly,  or  the 
arrogance  of  a  domineering  aristocracy.  And  it  also 
shows  that  the  old  Democratic  party  of  the  State,  can  not 
trust  to  the  counsels  of  forward,  indiscreet  young  men, 
without  experience,  who  present  themselves  as  leaders." 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS 


CHAPTER  XX.    - 

TAKES  his  seat  in  the  Senate — Slavery — Anti-slavery  Sentiment  of  the 
Revolution — Opinions  of  Madison— Jefferson — Patrick  Henry — John 
Jay  —  Washington  —  Franklin  —  Lafayette  —  Abolition  Societies,  in 
1787 — Thanks  of  Congress  to  an  Abolition  Society — Reaction  in  Public 
Sentiment — Slavery,  the  Ruling  Power — The  Causes  of  Reaction 

MR.  MORRIS  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  opening  of  the  session,  in  December,  1833. 
During  his  Senatorial  service,  he  became  identified  with 
the  growing  anti-slavery  movements  against  the  extension 
and  the  aggressions  of  the  slave  power ;  it  will  be  proper, 
therefore,  to  review,  briefly,  the  history  and  struggles  of 
freedom,  in  opposition  to  slavery,  and  to  record  the  sen- 
timents of  the  patriots  and  statesmen  of  the  Kevolution, 
on  this  engrossing  national  subject. 

It  was  the  aim  of  the  great  and  good  men,  who  inaugu- 
rated and  established  the  civil  government  and  political 
institutions  of  the  United  States,  as  declared  in  the  Con- 
stitution they  formed — "  To  establish  justice,  promote  the 
general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty."  The 
rights  of  man,  and  the  principle  of  universal  freedom, 
had  a  public  and  solemn  enunciation,  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  wherein  it  was  stated — "  That  all  men 
are  created  free  and  equal,  and  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are,  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Freedom,  and 
not  slavery,  was  the  object  for  which  the  patriots  and 
statesmen  of  the  Ee volution  drew  the  sword,  and  labored 
to  extend  and  establish.  They  found  the  system  of 
slavery  in  existence;  but  they  contemplated,  not  its 


64  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

expansion,  but  its  speedy  extinction.  The  Constitutional 
records  of  the  country  not  only  prove  this  to  have  been 
their  great  purpose  and  most  ardent  wish;  but  their 
repeated  declarations  testify,  that  freedom  was  National 
and  slavery  Sectional,  and  to  yield  soon  to  the  spread  of 
universal  liberty.  This  record  is  worthy  to  be  read,  and 
freshly  remembered,  by  every  American  citizen ;  to  be 
taught  to  every  American  child,  till  the  sentiment  of 
freedom  shall  be  the  ruling  sentiment  of  the  nation .  Let 
these  declarations  have  a  new  record,  and  a  re-hearing  on 
these  pages. 

Madison,  the  father  of  the  Constitution — "  Thought  it 
wrong  to  admit  in  the  Constitution  the  idea  that  there 
could  be  property  in  man."  "  I  object  to  the  word  slave 
appearing  in  a  Constitution  which  I  trust  is  to  be  the 
charter  of  freedom  to  unborn  millions ;  nor  would  I  will- 
ingly perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  fact  that  slavery  ever 
existed  in  our  country.  It  is  a  great  evil,  and  under  the 
Providence  of  God,  I  look  forward  to  some  scheme  of 
emancipation  which  shall  free  us  from  it.  Do  not,  there- 
fore, let  us  appear  as  if  we  regarded  it  perpetual,  by 
using  in  our  free  Constitution  an  odious  word  opposed  to 
every  sentiment  of  liberty." 

Jefferson,  the  great  apostle  of  Democracy,  declared — 
"  The  way  I  hope,  is  preparing  under  the  auspices  of 
heaven,  for  a  total  emancipation.  The  hour  of  emancipa- 
tion is  advancing  in  the  march  of  time.  This  enterprise 
is  for  the  young,  for  those  who  can  follow  it  up,  and  bear 
it  through  to  its  consummation.  It  shall  have  all  my 
prayers,  and  these  are  the  only  weapons  of  an  old  man. 
What  execrations  should  the  statesman  be  loaded  with, 
who  permitting  one  half  the  citizens  thus  to  trample  on 
the  rights  of  the  other,  transforms  the  one  into  despots 
and  the  other  into  enemies,  destroying  the  morals  of  one 
part,  and  the  amor  patrice  of  the  other.  And  can  the 
liberties  of  a  nation  be  thought  secured,  when  we  have 


I 

LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  65 

removed  the  only  firm  basis,  a  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
the  people,  that  their  liberties  are  the  gift  of  God.  Indeed 
I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  just; 
and  that  justice  can  not  sleep  forever.  The  Almighty 
has  no  attribute  that  can  take  sides  with  us  in  such  a 
contest." 

Patrick  Henry,  the  impassioned  orator  of  the  Kevolu- 
tion,  affirmed  —  "Slavery  is  detested;  we  feel  its  fata) 
effects ;  we  deplore  it  with  all  the  pity  of  humanity.  It 
would  rejoice  my  very  soul  that  every  one  of  my  fellow 
beings  was  emancipated.  I  believe  the  time  will  come 
when  an  opportunity  will  be  offered  to  abolish  this 
lamentable  evil." 

Judge  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  said — "  I  consider  the 
power  given  to  this  Constitution  to  prohibit  the  importa- 
tion of  slaves,  as  laying  the  foundation  for  banishing 
slavery  out  of  the  country.  If  there  was  no  other  lovely 
feature  in  the  Constitution  but  this  one,  it  would  diffuse 
a  beauty  over  its  whole  countenance.  In  the  lapse  of  a 
few  years,  Congress  will  have  power,  (by  an  amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution),  to  exterminate  slavery  from 
within  our  borders." 

John  Jay,  the  first  accomplished  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  who  aided  in 
the  formation  of  the  Constitution,  said :  "  The  word  slaves 
was  avoided,  probably,  on  account  of  the  existing  tolera- 
tion of  slavery,  and  its  discordancy  with  the  principles 
of  the  Kevolution,  and  from  a  consciousness  of  its  being 
repugnant  to  some  of  the  positions  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence." 

Judge  Tucker,  an  able  civilian  of  Virginia,  said  to  the 
legislature  of  his  State  :  "  Should  we  not  at  the  time  of 
the  Eevolution  have  loosed  their  chains  and  broken  their 
fetters?  or  if  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  such  an 
experiment  prohibited  the  attempt  during  the  Kevolution, 
6 


t»0  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

is  it  not  our  duty  to  embrace  this  moment  of  Constitu- 
tional health  anil  vigor,  to  effect  so  desirable  an  object, 
and  to  remove  from  us  a  stigma  with  which  our  enemies 
will  never  cease  to  upbraid  us,  nor  our  consciences  to 
reproach  us  ?  The  right  of  one  man  over  another,  to  hold 
him  in  slavery,  is  neither  founded  in  nature  nor  in  sound 
policy.  Slavery  is  perfectly  incompatible  with  gov- 
ernment. Shall  we  then  neglect  a  duty  which  every  con- 
sideration, moral,  religious,  political  or  selfish  recom- 
mends ?  " 

Mr.  Parker,  of  Virginia,  in  the  first  Congress  held 
under  the  present  Constitution,  said :  "  He  hoped  Con- 
gress would  do  all  in  their  power  to  restore  human  nature 
to  its  inherent  privileges,  and  if  possible  wipe  out  the 
stigma  under  which  America  labored.  The  inconsistency 
of  our  principles,  with  which  we  are  justly  charged,  should 
be  done  away,  that  we  may  show  by  our  actions  the  pure 
beneficence  of  the  doctrine  which  we  held  out  to  the  world 
in  our  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Washington,  the  Father  of  his  country,  said  :  "I  never 
mean,  unless  some  particular  circumstances  should  compel 
me  to  it,  to  possess  another  slave  by  purchase,  it  being 
among  my  first  desires  to  see  some  plan  adopted  in  this 
country,  by  which  slavery  may  be  abolished  by  law. 
Slavery  might  and  ought  to  be  abolished  by  legislative 
authority,  and  so  far  as  my  suffrage  would  go,  it  shall  not 
be  found  wanting."  He,  at  his  death,  freed  all  his  slaves. 
Washington  wrote  to  Lafayette,  when  the  latter  set  all 
his  slaves  free  in  Cayenne  :  "  Would  to  God,  a  like  spirit 
might  diffuse  itself  generally  into  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  country.  The  slaves  ought,  by  degrees,  to  be 
set  free,  and  that,  too,  by  legislative  authority." 

Lafayette,  the  friend  of  America,  and  the  co-patriot 
of  Washington,  who  poured  out  his  wealth  like  water, 
and  led  an  army  from  France,  to  aid  in  achieving  our 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  '67 

independence,  said :  "  I  never  would  have  drawn  my 
sword  in  the  cause  of  America,  if  I  could  have  conceived 
that  thereby  I  was  founding  a  land  of  slavery." 

Benjamin  Franklin,  the  patriot,  the  philosopher  and 
the  philanthropist,  closed  his  long  and  useful  life  by  act- 
ing as  President  of  an  Abolition  Society,  formed  on  the 
14th  of  April,  1775,  and  re-organized  in  1788,  when  this 
venerable  man  accepted  the  Presidency,  Dr.  Eush  act- 
ing as  Secretary.  These  men,  and  their  co-laborers  in 
the  cause  of  emancipation,  sent  to  Congress  the  following 

MEMOEIAL: 

From  a  persuasion  that  equal  liberty  was  originally  the 
portion,  and  is  now  the  birth-right  of  all  men,  and  influ- 
enced by  the  strongest  ties  of  humanity,  and  the  princi- 
ples of  our  Institutions,  your  memorialists  consider 
themselves  bound  to  use  all  justifiable  measures  to  loosen 
the  bands  of  slavery,  and  promote  a  general  enjoyment  of 
the  blessings  of  freedom.  Under  these  impressions,  they 
earnestly  entreat  your  serious  attention  to  the  subject  of 
slavery ;  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  countenance  the  res- 
toration of  liberty  to  those  unhappy  men,  who  alone  in 
this  land  of  freedom,  are  degraded  into  perpetual  bond- 
age, and  who,  amid  the  general  joy  of  surrounding  free- 
men, are  groaning  in  servile  subjection ;  that  you  will 
devise  means  for  removing  this  inconsistency  from  the 
character  of  the  American  people ;  that  you  will  promote 
mercy  and  justice  toward  this  distressed  race ;  and  that 
you  will  step  to  the  verge  of  the  power  vested  in  you  for 
discouraging  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  persons  of  our 
fellow-men.  . 

BENJAMIN  FKANKLIN,  President. 

PHILADELPHIA,  Feb.  3,  1790. 

Societies,  having  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  view,  were 
formed  in  a  number  of  other  States,  including  Virginia 


68  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

and  Maryland  ;  and  in  1794,  a  General  Convention  of  del- 
gates  from  all  the  Abolition  Societies  in  the  United  States 
•was  held  in  Philadelphia,  to  consult  measures  for  the  over- 
throw of  slavery ;  and  this  General  Convention  met  annu- 
ally for  twelve  years.  To  the  first  Convention,  Dr.  Rush 
was  a  delegate,  and  Chairman  of  a  Committee  to  draft  an 
Address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  which 
contained  the  following  views  and  condemnation  of 
slavery : 

"Many  reasons  concur  in  persuading  us  to  abolish 
domestic  slavery  in  our  country. 

"  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the  liberties  of 
the  United  States. 

"Freedom  and  slavery  can  not  long  exist  together. 
An  unlimited  power  over  the  time,  labor  and  posterity 
of  our  fellow  creatures,  necessarily  unfits  men  for  dis- 
charging the  public  and  private  duties  of  citizens  of  a 
Eepublic. 

"  It  is  inconsistent  with  sound  policy,  in  exposing  the 
States  which  permit  it,  to  all  those  evils  which  insurrec- 
tions and  the  most  resentful  war  have  introduced  into  one 
of  the  richest  islands  in  the  "West  Indies. 

"  It  is  unfriendly  to  the  present  exertions  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Europe  in  favor  of  liberty.  What  people  will 
advocate  freedom  with  a  zeal  proportioned  to  its  blessings, 
while  they  view  the  purest  Eepublic  in  the  world  tolera- 
ting in  its  bosom  a  body  of  slaves  ? 

"  In  vain  has  the  tyranny  of  kings  been  rejected  while 
we  permit  in  our  country  a  domestic  despotism,  which 
involves  in  its  nature  most  of  the  vices  and  miseries  that 
we  have  endeavored  to  avoid. 

"  It  is  degrading  to  our  rank  as  men  in  the  scale  of 
being.  Let  us  use  our  reason  and  social  affections  for  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  given,  or  cease  to  boast  a 
pre-eminence  over  animals  that  are  unpolluted  with  our 
crimes. 


LIFE    OF    S1NATOR    MORRIS.  69 

"  But  higher  motives  to  justice  and  humanity  toward 
our  fellow  creatures  remain  yet  to  be  mentioned. 

"  Domestic  slavery  is  repugnant  to  the  principles  of 
Christianity.  It  prostrates  every  benevolent  and  just 
principle  of  action  in  the  human  heart.  It  is  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  a  common  Father.  It  is  a  prac- 
tical denial  of  the  extent  and  efficacy  of  the  death  of  a 
common  Saviour.  It  is  a  usurpation  of  the  prerogatives 
of  the  great  Sovereign  of  the  universe,  who  has  solemnly 
claimed  an  exclusive  property  in  the  souls  of  men. 

"  But  if  this  view  of  the  enormity  of  domestic  slavery 
should  not  affect  us,  there  is  one  consideration  more 
which  ought  to  alarm  and  impress  us,  especially  at  the 
present  juncture. 

"  It  is  a  violation  of  a  Divine  precept  of  universal  jus- 
tice, which  has  in  no  case  escaped  with  impunity." 

Congress  gave  countenance  and  encouragement  to  these 
Abolition  Societies,  formed  in  various  States  of  the  Union, 
and  as  late  as  1809,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, by  a  resolution,  was  directed  to  return  a  letter 
of  thanks  to  an  Abolition  Convention,  for  a  gift  of  Clark- 
son's  history  of  slavery,  which  was  ordered  to  be  placed 
in  the  Congressional  library. 

The  patriot  and  statesman,  the  philanthropist  and 
Christian,  the  politician  and  divine,  the  guardians  of  pub- 
lic liberty  and  morality,  were  all  united  to  exterminate 
this  moral  and  political  evil  from  the  Republic.  They 
deemed  it  a  duty  to  saturate  their  schools,  colleges, 
churches,  legislatures  and  domestic  circles,  with  the  belief 
that  slavery  was  a  national  crime,  offensive  to  God,  and 
destructive  to  the  safety,  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 
people." 

Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  in  1832,  said—"  I  thought,  till 
very  lately,  it  was  known  to  everybody,  that  during  the 
Revolution,  and  for  many  years  after,  the  abolition  of 


68  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

and  Maryland  ;  and  in  1794,  a  General  Convention  of  del- 
gates  from  all  the  Abolition  Societies  in  the  United  States 
was  held  in  Philadelphia,  to  consult  measures  for  the  over- 
throw of  slavery  ;  and  this  General  Convention  met  annu- 
ally for  twelve  years.  To  the  first  Convention,  Dr.  Rush 
was  a  delegate,  and  Chairman  of  a  Committee  to  draft  an 
Address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  which 
contained  the  following  views  and  condemnation  of 
slavery  : 

"Many  reasons  concur  in  persuading  us  to  abolish 
domestic  slavery  in  our  country. 

"  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  safety  of  the  liberties  of 
the  United  States. 

"Freedom  and  slavery  can  not  long  exist  together. 
An  unlimited  power  over  the  time,  labor  and  posterity 
of  our  fellow  creatures,  necessarily  unfits  men  for  dis- 
charging the  public  and  private  duties  of  citizens  of  a 
Republic. 

"It  is  inconsistent  with  sound  policy,  in  exposing  the 
States  which  permit  it,  to  all  those  evils  which  insurrec- 
tions and  the  most  resentful  war  have  introduced  into  one 
of  the  richest  islands  in  the  West  Indies. 

"  It  is  unfriendly  to  the  present  exertions  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  Europe  in  favor  of  liberty.  What  people  will 
advocate  freedom  with  a  zeal  proportioned  to  its  blessings, 
while  they  view  the  purest  Republic  in  the  world  tolera- 
ting in  its  bosom  a  body  of  slaves  ? 

"  In  vain  has  the  tyranny  of  kings  been  rejected  while 
we  permit  in  our  country  a  domestic  despotism,  which 
involves  in  its  nature  most  of  the  vices  and  miseries  that 
we  have  endeavored  to  avoid. 

"  It  is  degrading  to  our  rank  as  men  in  the  scale  of 
being.  Let  us  use  our  reason  and  social  affections  for  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  given,  or  cease  to  boast  a 
pre-eminence  over  animals  that  are  unpolluted  with  our 
crimes. 


LIFE   OF   SENATOR   MORRIS.  69 

"  But  higher  motives  to  justice  and  humanity  toward 
our  fellow  creatures  remain  yet  to  be  mentioned. 

"  Domestic  slavery  is  repugnant  to  the  principles  of 
Christianity.  It  prostrates  every  benevolent  and  just 
principle  of  action  in  the  human  heart.  It  is  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  a  common  Father.  It  is  a  prac- 
tical denial  of  the  extent  and  efficacy  of  the  death  of  a 
common  Saviour.  It  is  a  usurpation  of  the  prerogatives 
of  the  great  Sovereign  of  the  universe,  who  has  solemnly 
claimed  an  exclusive  property  in  the  souls  of  men. 

"  But  if  this  view  of  the  enormity  of  domestic  slavery 
should  not  affect  us,  there  is  one  consideration  more 
which  ought  to  alarm  and  impress  us,  especially  at  the 
present  juncture. 

"  It  is  a  violation  of  a  Divine  precept  of  universal  jus- 
tice, which  has  in  no  case  escaped  with  impunity." 

Congress  gave  countenance  and  encouragement  to  these 
Abolition  Societies,  formed  in  various  States  of  the  Union, 
and  as  late  as  1809,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, by  a  resolution,  was  directed  to  return  a  letter 
of  thanks  to  an  Abolition  Convention,  for  a  gift  of  Clark- 
son's  history  of  slavery,  which  was  ordered  to  be  placed 
in  the  Congressional  library. 

The  patriot  and  statesman,  the  philanthropist  and 
Christian,  the  politician  and  divine,  the  guardians  of  pub- 
lic liberty  and  morality,  were  all  united  to  exterminate 
this  moral  and  political  evil  from  the  Republic.  They 
deemed  it  a  duty  to  saturate  their  schools,  colleges, 
churches,  legislatures  and  domestic  circles,  with  the  belief 
that  slavery  was  a  national  crime,  offensive  to  God,  and 
destructive  to  the  safety,  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 
people." 

Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  in  1832,  said—"  I  thought,  till 
very  lately,  it  was  known  to  everybody,  that  during  the 
Revolution,  and  for  many  years  after,  the  abolition  of 


70  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

slavery  was  a  favorite  topic  with  many  of  our  ablest 
statesmen." 

This  too,  was  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  Kevolution, 
and  of  subsequent  eras. 

The  Presbyterian  church  declared,  in  1787,  1793,  1795, 
1815,  and  in  1818,  that  — "  Slavery  was  a  gross  violation 
of  the  most  sacred  and  precious  rights  of  human  nature ; 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  law  of  God ;  totally  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ ;  and  that  it  is  manifestly  the  duty  of  all  Chris- 
tians to  use  their  honest,  earnest  and  unwearied  endea- 
vors, as  speedily  as  possible,  to  efface  this  blot  on  our  holy 
religion,  and  to  obtain  the  complete  abolition,  of  slavery 
throughout  Christendom,  and  if  possible,  throughout  the 
world." 

This  historical  record  shows  the  thorough  anti-slavery 
sentiments  and  action  of  the  founders  of  our  political 
Institutions  and  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  Not 
one  of  those  liberty  loving  men  dreamed  of  its  extension ; 
not  one  but  prayed  for  and  anticipated  ita  speedy 
extinction. 

Before  a  generation  had  passed  away,  the  sentiment  of 
freedom  began  to  grow  less  potential,  and  the  spirit  of 
slavery  more  aggressive  and  dominant. 

During  eighty  years  of  national  existence  and  pro-r 
gress,  American  slavery  becomes  the  ruling  power  of 
the  country.  Its  aggressions  have  triumphed  over  the 
free  purposes  and  principles  of  the  Constitution  and  of 
national  patriotism.  It  has  ignored  the  doctrines  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  scoffed  at  that  great 
charter  of  human  rights.  It  has  made  slavery  National 
and  freedom  Sectional.  It  has  trampled  on  solemn  com- 
pacts, and  opened  to  the  power  of  slavery  immense  terri- 
tories, which  have  been  for  a  generation,  by  a  solemn  act 
of  legislation,  consecrated  to  freedom,  in  which  thirteen 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  71 

empires,  as  large  as  the  great  State  of  Ohio,  may  be 
formed.  It  has  added  five  new  Slave  States  to  the  Union. 
It  has  under  its  power  more  than  one-half  of  the  geo- 
graphical domain  of  the  Nation.  It  has  originated  wars 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  expansion  and  perpetuation  to 
the  system. 

It  has  controlled  the  Legislation  of  Congress,  and  in- 
directly of  Free  States,  and  avowed  its  purpose,  as  declared, 
by  its  Southern  champions,  "  to  give  laws  to  the  Govern- 
ment." It  has  practically  denied  the  Constitutional  right 
of  Petition,  and  treated  American  citizens,  who  have  pe- 
titioned for  a  redress  from  the  evils  of  slavery,  with 
contempt.  It  stifled,  and  prohibited  for  years,  in  the 
popular  branch  of  the  Government,  free  discussion  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  In  the  Convention  of  great  political 
parties,  slavery  has  decreed,  who  should,  or  who  should 
not  be  President.  In  the  executive,  legislative  and 
judicial  departments  of  the  Government,  it  has  had  the 
supremacy,  and  their  emoluments.  It  has  made  political 
Anti-Slavery  a  ground  for  civil  disfranchisement,  social 
proscription  and  murderous  persecution.  It  has  corrupted 
the  public  conscience  of  the  nation,  and  revolutionized 
public  sentiment.  It  has  subsidized  the  Press  of  the 
North  to  a  considerable  extent,  both  political  and  religious, 
into  an  advocacy  of  its  arrogant  claims.  Christianity  has 
been  perverted  and  converted  to  its  defense  and  perpetuation. 
The  Pulpit  and  the  Bible  have  been  brought  to  its  sanction 
and  its  declared  Divine  authority.  Ecclesiastical  bodies 
have  been  rent  in  twain  by  its  unhallowed  pretensions ; 
and  every  fountain  of  influence,  political,  social,  educa- 
tional, and  religious,  have  felt  its  corrupting  power 
throughout  the  nation  and  Government. 

The  cause  of  this  sad  revolution  in  public  sentiment, 
and  the  action  of  the  people  and  Government,  are  mourn- 
ful and  manifold ;  and  is  one  of  the  most  humiliating 
chapters  in  American  history.  Whence  this  treachery  to 


72  LIFE   OF   SENATOR  MORRIS. 

freedom  ?  this  apostacy  from  the  sentiment,  so  prevalent 
in  the  first  and  pure  ages  of  the  Bepublic  ?  It  has  come, 
mainly  from  two  sources,  the  love  of  money  and  the 
love  of  Power ;  Avarice,  and  Ambition,  the  two  dominant 
passions  of  the  human  heart.  Material  wealth  has  been 
too  much  the  controlling  interest  and  purpose  of  the 
American  people.  The  discovery  was  made  that  cotton,  in 
the  planting  regions  of  the  South,  would  become  the 
source  of  future  wealth,  and  cultivated  by  slave  labor; 
and  hence,  Cotton  became  "  King,"  the  ruling  element 
in  the  monied  and  political  power  of  the  country.  This 
great  power  pervaded  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
North  as  well  as  of  the  South,  and,  in  the  course  of  time, 
brought  the  free  North  into  subserviency  to  the  policy  of 
the  South.  The  commercial,  the  social,  and  the  religious 
interests  of  the  North,  were  afraid  of  giving  offense  to  the 
South,  by  the  agitation  of  slavery,  and  hence  acquiesced 
in  its  arrogant  aggressions,  and  became  the  apologists 
and  defenders  of  American  Slavery. 

Political  power,  also  had  a  great  influence  in  the  revo- 
lution of  public  sentiment,  and  the  action  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  favor  of  slavery.  The  balance  of  power  has 
always  been  with  the  South,  and  under  the  progress  and 
achievements  of  free  institutions  and  free  labor,  this  power 
was  being  transferred  to  the  North.  The  South,  so  long 
accustomed  to  rule,  made  the  strongest  efforts  to  retain 
their  ascendancy  in  the  Government,  and  to  perpetuate 
their  political  power.  In  this  effort  they  uniformly  suc- 
ceeded in  causing  the  free  North  to  bow  in  subjection  to 
their  claims,  so  that  in  almost  every  Presidential  election 
they  obtained  a  President,  and  with  him  the  whole  polit- 
ical power  of  the  Government,  to  favor  the  pretensions 
of  the  slave-power. 

These  two  great  interests  controlled  and  directed  the 
public  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  brought  under 
their  dominion,  the  principles  and  institutions  of  the 


-       LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  73 

North.  The  Press,  the  Pulpit,  religious  and  secular  Liter- 
ature, Churches,  Ecclesiastical  Bodies,  Humane  and 
Christian  Societies,  great  Publishing  Houses,  Social  affini- 
ties, Political  parties,  and  State  Legislation,  became  di- 
rectly, or  indirectly,  auxiliary  in  corrupting  the  public 
conscience  and  public  sentiment,  and  thus  revolutionizing 
the  action  of  the  Government,  and  the  popular  influence 
of  the  country,  so  that  the  battle  was  turned  in  favor  of 
Slavery  and  against  Freedom. 

This  ascendancy  too,  of  the  slave  power,  has  been  kept 
and  continued  in  defiance  of  equal  justice  and  true 
Democracy.  The  population,  the  commerce,  the  enter- 
prise, the  wealth,  the  prosperity,  the  finical  support  of  the 
Government,  the  means  for  the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
and  education,  are  greatly  in  favor  of  the  North.  Free- 
dom— in  all  the  elements  of  national  prosperity  and 
greatness,  in  all  that  constitutes  a  State — has  greatly 
outrivaled  slavery,  as  all  the  statistics  of  the  country 
abundantly  confirm. 

The  Census  of  1850  gives  347,525  slave-holders;  of 
these,  68,820  own  but  a  single  slave ;  105,683  each  own 
under  five  slaves ;  80,765  had  each  less  than  ten  slaves — 
making  255,268  who  each  owned  less  than  ten  slaves. 
This  number  taken  from  347,525,  the  whole  number  of 
slaveholders,  leaves  but  92,257  who  are  the  owners  of  ten 
slaves  or  more ;  and  these  have  practically  controlled  the 
Government,  and  brought  the  Northern  States — with  all 
their  superior  wealth,  enterprise,  intelligence,  and  their 
five-fold  population  —  into  subserviency  to  the  slave 
interest. 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     BIOERIS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


AGITATION  —  Three  Eras  of  Slavery  Agitation  —  Revolutionary  Era  — 
Missouri  Era — Present  Era — Mr.  Morris  takes  his  Seat  as  Senator,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  Present  Era — Slavery  and  the  Slave-Trade  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  —  Petitions  to  Congress  —  John  Quincy  Adams 
Threatened  with  Expulsion — Gag  Resolutions  of  the  House — Action  in 
the  Senate— Pro-Slavery  Senators — Mr.  Morris's  Firmness — Resolution 
of  the  Senate — The  Senate  a  Battle-Ground  between  Freedom  and 
Slavery — Prediction  of  Mr.  Morris  —  Senator  Seward  —  Mr.  Morris's 
Speech  on  the  Right  of  Petition. 

P 

AGITATION  is  the  source  of  light  and  progress,  securing 
the  triumph  of  truth  and  freedom,  and  the  downfall  of 
error  and  despotism.  The  Providence  of  God  has  no 
clearer  confirmation  and  no  nobler  vindication,  than  in 
the  ceaseless  agitation  to  which  slavery  has  been  sub- 
jected during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Freedom, 
after  a  season  of  inaction,  roused  itself  to  resist  the 
aggressions  of  slavery,  and  to  turn  once  more  the  action 
of  Government  to  its  original  purpose  of  securing  and 
expanding  the  blessings  of  freedom,  and  to  denationalize 
slavery.  All  efforts  to  prevent  agitation,  but  increased 
its  intensity  and  thoroughness.  To  silence  the  voice  of 
freedom,  political  conventions  in  their  platforms,  decreed 
the  doctrine  of  non-intervention  and  entire  silence ; 
legislatures  in  free  States,  interdicted  its  discussion; 
great  ecclesiastical  denominations  held  it  as  heresy,  to 
canvass  the  claims  of  slavery,  or  to  utter  anathemas 
against  it ;  the  press  secular  and  religious,  made  the  sub- 
ject contraband  in  its  columns;  commerce  and  social 
influence  labored  to  prevent  its  examination  and  expo- 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  75 

sure ;  and  all  possible  efforts  were  combined  to  keep 
slavery  from  the  searching  ordeal  of  light  and  discussion. 
These  efforts  however,  were  unsuccessful.  Freedom  was 
too  powerful  for  slavery;  and  in  defiance  of  political, 
commercial  and  religious  edicts,  agitation  increased  till  it 
became  the  absorbing  subject  of  discussion  and  action  of 
the  American  people  and  Government. 

Three  distinct  eras  mark  the  agitation  of  slavery.  The 
First  was,  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  formed,  continuing  till  about  1808,  the  year  in  which 
the  slave-trade  ceased  by  law;  the  Second,  when  the 
State  of  Missouri  sought  admission  into  the  Union  with  a 
Constitution  establishing  slavery,  which  produced  a  pro- 
found excitement  throughout  the  country,  and  which  was 
quieted  by  the  Act  of  Compromise,  which  gave  to  freedom 
all  the  National  Territory  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes ;  the  Third  began  about  1832,  and  has 
been  ever  since,  waxing  deeper  and  stronger. 

Thomas  Morris  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  at  the  commencement  of  the  Third  Era  of  the 
political  agitation  of  slavery,  in  which  he  bore  a  dis- 
tinguished part  till  his  death. 

Petitions  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  were  sent  to  Congress  as  early  as  1814.  The 
traffic  in  human  beings,  shamelessly  prosecuted  in  the 
Capitol  of  a  Free  Republic,  and  in  view  of  the  assembled 
legislators  of  the  nation  and  the  Representatives  from  For- 
eign countries,  was  deemed,  even  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
District,  a  National  reproach.  Judge  Morrill,  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  charging  the  Grand  Jury, 
declared  :  "  That  the  frequency  with  which  the  streets  of 
Washington  city  had  been  crowded  with  manacled  cap- 
tives, sometimes  on  the  Sabbath,  could  not  fail  to  shock 
the  feelings  of  all  humane  persons."  In  the  same  year, 
1816,  John  Randolph,  made  a  motion  that  a  Committee  in 
Congress  be  appointed,  which  was  carried,  to  report 


76  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

"  what  measures  were  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District." 

In  1828,  more  than  one  thousand  inhabitants  of  the 
District,  petitioned  Congress  to  abolish  the  slave  trade. 
In  1829,  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  District  sent  a  report  to 
Congress  in  which  they  prayed,  "  That  provisions  might 
be  made  to  prevent  slave  dealers,  from  making  the  cities 
of  the  District,  Depots  for  the  imprisonment  of  the  slaves 
they  collected.  It  is  believed  the  whole  community  would 
be  gratified  by  the  interference  of  Congress  for  the  sup- 
pression and  the  exclusion  of  this  disgusting  traffic  from 
the  District." 

In  1830,  the  Washington  Spectator,  echoing  the  public 
sentiment  in  an  article  on  the  Slave  Trade  in  the  Capitol, 
told  the  American  people  "  That  at  the  very  time  when 
the  procession,  which  contained  the  President  (Jackson) 
of  the  United  States  and  his  Cabinet,  were  marching  in 
triumph  to  the  Capitol,  a  procession  of  colored  human 
beings,  handcuffed  in  pairs,  were  driven  in  another  direc- 
tion to  a  slave  ship,  where,  with  others,  they  were  to  em- 
bark and  be  conveyed  to  the  South.  Where  is  the 
O'Connell  that  will  plead  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia." 

These  were  the  sentiments  of  the  great  body  of  the 
people  in  the  Free  States ;  and  availing  themselves  of  their 
Constitutional  right  to  petition  Congress  for  a  redress  of 
grievances,  they  sent,  during  the  Senatorial  term  of  Mr. 
Morris,  numerous  petitions,  praying  for  the  suppression 
of  the  Slave  traffic,  and  the  abolishment  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

When  these  petitions  were  presented  to  the  House  of 
Representatives,  the  slave  power  was  indignant,  and  Mr. 
Speight  of  North  Carolina,  said  :  "  Nothing  but  respect 
for  the  Speaker,  as  an  officer  of  the  House,  and  his  char- 
acter, prevented  him  from  rushing  to  the  table  and  tear- 
ing the  petition  to  pieces."  "  I  warn  these  petitioners 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  77 

said  another,  Mr.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  "  ignorant, 
infatuated  barbarians  as  they  are,  that  if  chance  shall 
throw  any  of  them  into  our  hands,  they  may  expect  a 
felon's  death." 

John  Quincy  Adams,  Ex-President  of  the  United  States, 
and,  subsequently  for  ten  years,  member  of  Congress  from 
Massachusetts,  presented  a  petition  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  District.  Mr.  Thompson  of  South  Carolina,  rose,  and 
threatened  him  with  expulsion  from  the  House,  and  an 
indictment  before  the  Grand  Jury.  "  He  may  yet  be 
amenable  to  the  Grand  Jury,  and  we  may  yet  see  an  in- 
cendiary brought  to  justice."  To  prevent  agitation  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  and  to  intimidate  the  freemen  of  the 
North  from  sending  their  petitions  to  Congress,  the  House, 
on  the  26th  of  May,  1836,  passed  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

"  Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolutions, 
and  propositions,  relating  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent 
whatever  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  shall,  without  being 
read,  printed,  or  referred,  be  laid  on  the  table,  and  that 
no  further  action  whatever  shall  be  had  thereon."  The 
preamble  declared  the  object  to  be,  "  That  all  agitation  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  should  be  finally  arrested,  for  the 
purpose  of  restoring  tranquillity  to  the  public  mind." 

The  same  spirit  and  purpose  reigned  in  the  Senate.  On 
the  7th  of  January,  1836,  Mr.  Morris  presented  several 
petitions  from  the  citizens  of  Ohio,  asking  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr.  Calhoun,  of 
South  Carolina,  rose  and  said  :  "  It  was  not  within  the 
power  of  Congress  to  legislate  on  the  subject ;  that  one 
half  of  the  Union  was  deeply  slandered  in  these  petitions ; 
that  receiving  them  would  contitfue  agitation ;  that  agi- 
tation was  what  the  South  feared,  because  it  would  com- 
pel the  Southern  press  to  discuss  slavery  in  the  very 
presence  of  the  Slaves,  who  would  be  induced  to  believe 
that  there  was  a  powerful  party  at  the  North  ready  to 


78  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

assist  them  ;  I  object  to  receiving  these  petitions  because 
they  were  sundering  the  ties  that  bound  this  Union 
together." 

Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  afterward  Yice  President  of  the 
United  States,  said  :  "  He  believed  those  miserable  fanat- 
ics would  yet  become  enlightened,  and  the  spell  of  their 
delusion  be  dispelled." 

Mr.  Leigh,  of  Yirginia,  said :  "  The  conduct  of  these 
petitioners  was  injurious,  offensive,  and  calculated  to  pro- 
duce agitation  in  our  social  relations,  and  to  jeopardize 
the  Union.  Dr.  Channing,  of  Boston,  in  1836,  published 
his  views  of  American  slavery ;  in  reference  to  that  Book 
Mr.  Leigh  declared,  "  That  he  never  read  any  paper  that 
filled  him  with  deeper  sorrow.  It  had  done  more  to 
weaken  the  brotherly  love  of  our  Northern  brethren  than 
the  whole  exertions  of  the  despicable  company  of  aboli- 
tionists put  together.  It  had  no  sympathy  for  the  whites 
of  his  own  race." 

Mr.  Preston,  of  South  Carolina,  said  —  "The  Govern- 
ment should  say  to  the  South,  that  we  can't  receive  the 
petitions  of  hot-headed  and  cold-hearted  fanatics,  who 
are  waging  a  war  of  extermination  against  us.  We  ask, 
that  Congress  will  distinctly  and  positively  interfere 
between  us  and  these  fanatics.  Let  an  Abolitionist  come 
within  the  borders  of  South  Carolina ;  if  we  can  catch 
him  we  will  try  him,  and  notwithstanding  all  the  inter- 
ference of  all  the  governments  on  earth,  including  the 
Federal  Government,  we  will  hang  him." 

Mr.  Strange,  of  North  Carolina,  said — "  I  most  confi- 
dently believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  favorable 
to  the  highest  development  of  the  freemen  who  live 
within  its  influence ;'  that  it  promotes  the  growth  of  all 
the  nobler  and  generous  qualities  of  our  nature  in  every 
bosom,  except  perhaps,  that  of  the  slave  himself.  The 
current  of  fanaticism  which  has  crossed  the  Atlantic,  has 
swept  away  in  its  course,  one  of  our  sovereign  States,  and 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR   MORRIS.  79 

how  many  more  were  doomed  to  follow,  God  only  knew. 
Every  agitation  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  weakens  the 
moral  force  in  our  favor,  and  breaks  down  the  moral  bar- 
riers that  now  serve  to  protect  and  secure  us.  "We  have 
everything  to  lose,  and  nothing  to  gain  by  agitation  and 
discussion." 

Mr.  Lumpkins,  of  Georgia,  said — "  Every  lover  of  this 
Union  should  cease  to  agitate  this  question.  The  inter- 
ference of  the  Abolitionists  and  their  supporters  with  the 
domestic  concerns  of  the  South,  is  daily  becoming  more 
offensive.  If  abolitionists  went  to  Georgia,  they  would 
be  caught." 

These  were  the  uttered  declarations  of  Southern  Sena- 
tors, when  anti-slavery  petitions  were  presented.  Senators 
from  the  free  States  were  as  fierce  in  their  denunciations. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  from  Pennsylvania,  said — "  These  fana- 
tics have  been  scattering  fire-brands,  arrows,  and  death, 
throughout  the  Southern  States.  Their  motives  may  be 
honest,  but  their  zeal  is  without  knowledge.  They  ren- 
der the  condition  of  the  slave  miserable,  with  vague 
notions  of  freedom  never  to  be  realized.  They  are  des- 
perate fanatics." 

Mr.  Wall,  of  New  Jersey,  said — "  Let  us  put  an  end  to 
this  exciting  subject ;  let  us  by  a  prompt  decision,  carry 
balm  to  the  wounded  feelings  of  the  slave-holding  States; 
let  not  this  Hall  become  a  place  for  the  discussion  of 
Abolition." 

Mr.  "Wright,  of  New  York,  said — "  Refuse  the  right  to 
petition  on  the  broad  principles,  as  relating  to  the  subject 
of  slavery,  and  these  malignant  agitators  will  seize  upon 
the  act  to  draw  to  themselves  and  their  cause  public  sym- 
pathy. They  were  dangerous  and  wicked  agitators  of 
the  North.  Mr.  Channing's  Work  on  Slavery,  had  shown 
him  ignorant  of  the  opinion  and  feelings  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  citizens  of  the  non-slaveholding  States.  The  spirit 


80  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

in  which  it  was  written,  as  grossly  abused  the  Northern 
feelings  as  its  language  did  Southern  morals." 

Mr.  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  now  President  of  the 
United  States,  said  —  "I  regard  the  schemes  of  the 
Abolitionists  as  mad  and  fanatical." 

In  the  midst  of  such  an  array  of  opposition,  Mr.  Morris, 
as  a  Senator  from  the  free  State  of  Ohio,  earnestly  and 
ably  defended  the  Constitutional  rights  of  his  country- 
men. A  few  extracts  from  his  various  speeches  in  defense 
of  the  right  of  petition,  and  the  character  of  those  who 
had  petitioned  Congress  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  are  here 
presented : 

"  The  subject-matter  of  these  petitions  were  clearly 
within  the  power  of  Congress,  and  one  upon  which  this 
body  could  act,  whenever  in  their  opinion  it  was  neces- 
sary for  such  action  to  be  had.  He  was  well  convinced 
that  the  petitioners  entertained  the  same  opinion  with 
himself  on  the  subject,  and  that  they  had  in  good  faith, 
sent  their  petitions  to  Congress  ;  and  with  equal  good 
faith,  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  provide  means  by 
which  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  should  be  abolished  in 
this  District.  The  question  now  is,  have  these  petitioners 
a  right  to  be  heard  by  this  body,  who  possess  primary, 
complete,  and  exclusive  legislation  upon  this  subject? 
This  right  is  secured  to  them  in  the  most  ample  manner, 
by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  itself.  That  instru- 
ment deprives  Congress  of  all  power  to  make  any  law,  to 
abridge  this  right ;  the  Constitution  recognizing  the  right 
as  inherent,  and  original,  and  does  not  in  the  slightest 
degree,  permit  Congress  to  interfere  with  it  as  a  right. 
Upon  this  Constitutional  provision  the  petitioners  have 
placed  themselves,  as  upon  a  rock  which  can  not  be 
moved ;  but  in  the  exercise  of  this  right,  he  was  willing 
to  admit,  that  the  petitioners  ought  to  observe  that  deco- 
rum which  is  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  society. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  81 

u  It  is  objected  in  this  case,  that  the  petitioners  reflect 
in  the  language  of  their  petitions,  most  unwarrantably 
on  sovereign  States,  as  well  as  on  individual  citizens  of 
those  States.  He  said — if  the  right  of  petition  was 
deemed  of  so  much  importance  as  to  be  declared  by  the 
Constitution,  a  right  which  Congress  should  not  abridge ; 
with  what  propriety  then,  shall  one  branch  of  Congress 
undertake  to  declare,  that  petitions  shall  not  be  received, 
on  the  ground,  that  the  object  which  the  petitioners  seek 
to  obtain  is  not  in  the  power  of  Congress  to  grant ;  or 
that  the  words  used  by  the  petitioners,  are  such  as  ought 
not  to  be  heard  ? 

"  He  would  ask  gentlemen,  if  this  was  not  abridging 
the  right  of  petition ;  for,  if  Congress  could  prescribe  the 
matter  and  form  in  which  petitions  should  be  presented, 
there  was  at  once  an  end  to  the  right  of  petitioning. 
He  could  see  no  difference  in  principle,  in  prescribing  the 
manner  in  which  an  act  should  be  done,  and  in  prevent- 
ing it  altogether.  The  petitions  now  presented,  pray  the 
action  of  Congress  on  a  subject,  over  which  Congress 
alone,  has  the  power  of  legislation.  They  have  expressed 
themselves  in  this  matter,  in  such  language  as  they  judged 
proper  for  the  occasion ;  this  is  their  inherent  right.  The 
liberty  of  speech  is  theirs,  without  restraint,  and  they  are 
subject  for  its  abuse,  only  to  the  laws.  Let  us  take  care 
then,  how  we  tread  on  this  ground,  lest  in  our  attempts 
to  make  petitions  palatable  to  ourselves,  we  do  not  abridge 
the  sacred  right  of  petitioning.  In  this  belief  he  found 
assurance,  that  the  petitions  would  be  received,  and  the 
motion  of  the  honorable  Senator  fail.  It  was  not  neces- 
sary, that  he  should  express  his  views  of  the  evil  effects 
that  would  follow  a  contrary  course."  The  feelings,  said 
Mr.  Morris,  which  prompted  these  petitions  were  the 
deepest  rooted  of  any  in  the  human  breast ;  they  were 
excited  by  a  high  sense  of  religious  duty,  and  no  human 
power  could  ever  induce  them  to  abandon  what  they 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

believed  themselves  thus  bound  to  perform.  They  had 
been  termed  miserable  fanatics,  vile  incendiaries,  and 
charged  with  an  intention  to  dissolve  .the  Union.  These 
views  were  very  erroneous.  They  were  upright,  con- 
scientious, patriotic  citizens,  and  they  had  a  right  to  be 
heard.  And  to  receive  the  petitions  and  immediately 
move  their  rejection,  was  tantamount  to  refusing  to 
receive  them.  It  was  keeping  the  word  of  promise  to  the 
ear,  and  breaking  it  to  their  hope.  If  the  right  of 
petition  fail  us,  will  it  not  prove  that  the  whole  fabric  of 
the  Constitution  is  rotten,  and  not  worth  our  care  ?  I 
fervently  hope,  that  the  tear  of  some  recording  angel 
may  yet  be  dropped  on  the  words  of  shame  and  dishonor, 
and  blot  them  out  forever." 

The  Senate  passed  a  resolution,  that  receiving  a 
petition  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  should  be  negatived 
after  it  was  read,  thus  striking  down  the  great  Constitu- 
tional right  of  Petition.  This  act,  decreed  and  executed 
by  the  Slave  power,  ever  in  the  ascendancy  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise Act,  in  March,  1854,  were  but  the  fulfillment  of  a 
prediction  made  by  Mr.  Morris,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate, 
in  1836.  "I  am  clearly  of  the  opinion  said  he,  that  if  the 
liberties  of  the  people  of  this  country  are  ever  destroyed, 
it  will  be  by  the  act  of  an  American  Congress ;  and  the 
first  scene  in  the  grand  drama  will  take  place  in  this 
Body." 

Senator  Seward  of  New  York,  on  the  triumph  of  slavery 
over  freedom,  in  the  act  repealing  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, uttered  the  same  sentiment:  "Successful  resist- 
ance to  this  Act  was  never  to  be  made  in  this  Hall.  The 
Senate  floor  is  an  old  battle-ground,  on  which  have  been 
fought  many  contests,  and  always,  at  least  since  1820, 
with  fortune  adverse  to  the  cause  of  equal  and  universal 
freedom." 

On  the  10th  of  January,  1839,  Mr.  Morris  made  a  special 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  83 

speech  on  the  subject  of  the  right  of  Petition,  which  is 
here  inserted.  It  is  a  Constitutional  and  able  discus- 
sion of  the  whole  subject.  It  is  as  follows  : 

SPEECH  OF  ME.  MOKKIS. 

JANUARY  10,  1838. 

Mr.  Morris,  on  presenting  the  petition  of  sundry  citizens 
of  Brown  County,  Ohio,  said  he  had  received  a  petition 
with  the  request  to  present  the  same  separately  and  alone ; 
it  contained  the  words  Slavery  and  Slave  Trade,  and  those 
words  but  once  repeated ;  he  feared,  however,  that  it 
would  fall  under  the  practice  of  the  Senate,  and  meet  the 
same  fate  that  other  petitions  containing  the  same  words 
had  done ;  that  he  would,  however,  avail  himself  of  the 
opportunity,  in  support  of  the  motion  he  was  about  to 
make,  to  submit  a  few  remarks  to  the  Senate,  and  which 
motion  he  should  make  in  courtesy  to  the  Senate,  and  not 
as  a  right  existing  in  the  body  to  require  it.  He  had 
before  him  the  Constitution  and  Kules  of  the  Senate,  both 
of  which  would  sustain  him  in  the  course  which  strict 
duty  would  require  him  to  take  on  the  present  occasion. 
He  would  first  distinctly  state,  that  he  and  those  who 
thought  with  him  on  this  subject,  waged  no  war  upon  the 
laws  and  institutions  of  any  State ;  the  overgrown  and 
unsatisfied  power  with  which  they  were  contending,  had 
attacked  them  within  their  own  borders.  It  was  in  self- 
defense,  in  defense  of  all  that  was  valuable  to  honorable 
minds,  that  they  were  now  compelled  to  act.  It  was  in 
defense  of  political  liberty,  and  the  important  and  inhe- 
rent right  of  petition,  that  they  felt  themselves  pressed 
forward  in  this  contest.  And  the  first  question  he  would 
consider  was,  who  have  the  right  of  petition  ?  Does  it 
belong  to  the  many,  or  to  the  few  ?  has  it  any  want  of 
exclusiveness  in  its  nature  to  prevent  its  equal  enjoyment 
by  ALL?  Will  the  legislative  bodies  of  the  country  (and 
he  spoke  wilh  reference  to  the  States  as  well  as  this 


84  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Government,)  create  an  aristocracy  of  rights  as  they  had 
an  aristocracy  of  wealth  ?  Shall  the  right  of  petition  be 
tested  by  color,  or  by  property  ?  Either  would  be  a  gross 
assumption  of  power,  and  a  palpable  violation  of  right. 
He  considered  any  human  being  capable  of  acquiring 
property,  and  upon  whose  person  the  laws  could  operate, 
and  was  susceptible  of  feeling  and  suffering,  entitled  to 
the  full  and  unrestricted  exercise  of  this  right.  A  con- 
trary doctrine  he  held  to  be  not  only  odious,  tyrannical 
and  despotic  in  its  nature,  but  in  direct  derogation  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  our  Government.  Yet  this  pre- 
tended right  of  judging,  by  legislative  Assemblies,  who 
shall  petition,  is  finding  advocates.  Its  exercise  is  an 
assumption  of  power  having  neither  reason,  truth  nor 
common  sense  for  its  support. 

No  one  has  any  just  right  to  say,  who  among  our  people 
shall  enjoy  that  right,  or  for  what  he  shall  petition.  This 
unjust  claim,  he  feared,  was  spreading  its  baneful  and 
blasting  influence  through  the  country,  and  if  newspaper 
information  was  to  be  relied  on,  was  made  a  solemn  ques- 
tion of  debate  in  the  Legislature  of  his  own  State.  Men 
of  talents,  worth  and  respectability,  had  questioned  the 
right  of  the  colored  man  to  present  his  petition  through 
the  hands  of  a  member,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  by 
the  Constitution  deprived  of  the  right  to  vote,  and  of 
course,  could  not  instruct  the  General  Assembly,  or  any 
of  its  members.  He  deplored  that  such  doctrine  had  found 
support  in  any  State :  and  he  had  read  with  feelings  of 
deep  mortification  and  regret,  of  its  advocacy  in  Ohio.  So 
strange  and  so  absurd  did  the  objection  appear  to  his 
mind,  that  he  immediately  applied  to  some  of  his  brother 
Senators  here,  from  the  slave  States,  to  know  if  it  was  the 
practice  in  the  General  Assemblies  of  their  States,  to  refuse 
petitions  from  free  persons  of  color,  for  the  redress  of  any 
grievance  under  which  they  might  suppose  they  labored, 
and  he  was  assured  such  was  not  the  case;  but  that 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  85 

persons  of  this  description  were  allowed  to  petition  as 
other  citizens,  and  their  petitions  were  received  as  a 
matter  of  right.  And  he  asked  to  be  corrected  if  wrong  in 
his  position.  Indeed,  one  gentleman  had  said  to  him, 
"  Why,  sir,  we  allow  our  slaves  to  persuade  us  that  they 
ought  to  be  free."  These,  sir,  are  noble  sentiments,  and 
honorable  feelings,  worthy  of  the  land  of  Jefferson,  in  the 
day  when  his  hand  was  penning  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. A  contrary  doctrine  however,  is  now  held  and 
advocated  by  a  class  of  small  politicians,  who,  like  insects 
have  sprung  from  the  corrupt  and  agitated  waters  of 
party  spirit  and  drill ;  mere  summer  flies,  who  buzz  round 
the  circle  of  power,  and  draw  a  precarious  and  short  lived 
existence  from  the  putrid  mass  of  prejudice,  which  inter- 
est has  created,  to  keep  the  colored  race  in  bondage. 
Politicians  who  would  make  the  lacerated  back  of  the 
trembling  slave  a  hobby  to  ride  into  office,  if  no  other 
would  suit  their  purpose  as  well.  He  had  no  language  to 
express  his  feelings  with  regard  to  such  men,  and  the  doc- 
trine they  held,  and  it  was  better  perhaps  he  should 
not ;  but  he  would  say,  that  it  must  be  a  most  mean  and 
contemptible  Government  which  would  subject  a  man  to 
the  operation  of  its  laws,  tax  his  property  for  its  support, 
and  then  refuse  to  hear  his  petition.  Such  practice  would 
be  a  refinement  of  despotism,  of  which  modern  Europe 
could  not  boast.  Yet  in  some  of  our  free  States,  this  doc- 
trine is  advocated,  and  that  too  by  many  who  profess  to 
be  republicans.  It  was  a  Kepublicanism  beyond  his  con- 
ception, and  one  he  did  not  understand — that  we  should 
tax  a  man  for  the  support  of  government,  and  then  because 
he  is  black  or  yellow,  has  a  curly  head,  a  flat  nose,  or 
thick  lips,  a  petition  from  him  shall  not  be  received  by  the 
legislature.  Government  could  not,  in  his  opinion,  be 
guilty  of  an  act  of  greater  tyranny  and  more  gross  injus- 
tice than  this.  The  philosophy  and  patriotism  of  the 
advocates  of  such  doctrines,  begin  and  end  in  the  assertion. 


86  LIFE   OF   SENATOR   MORRIS. 

that  a  negro  has  no  Constitutional  right  to  petition, 
because  he  has  not  the  right  of  voting  at  elections  ;  and 
because  he  has  no  political  rights,  they  deny  him  natural 
rights.  What  a  bright  thought  is  this ;  and  what  morality 
and  philanthropy  must  dwell  in  the  heart  which  conceived 
an  idea  cruel  beyond  description,  and  presumptuous  beyond 
belief.  The  negro  is  not  only  permitted,  but  invited  to 
approach  his  Maker  by  petition,  and  implore  deliverance 
from  existing  evils  while  his  fellow  man,  who  has  power 
over  him,  refuses  to  hear  his  petition,  and  in  the  mean- 
time, raises  a  contribution  from  his  property  and  labor,  to 
pay  the  fees  of  the  official  station  which  he  fills.  Not 
having  the  right  of  representation,  as  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  paying  taxes,  is  a  sore  grievance  ;  but  taxing, 
where  the  right  of  petition  is  denied,  is  gross  injustice, 
and  high-handed  despotism.  Well  has  it  been  said,  that — 

"  Man,  vain  man, — 
Drest  in  a  little  brief  authority, 
Plays  such  fantastic  tricks  before  high  heaven, 
As  makes  e'en  Angels  weep." 

Sir,  said  Mr.  Morris,  the  advocates  of  such  doctrines  as  I 
have  mentioned,  are  in  my  belief,  lovers  of  negro  slavery, 
in  its  worst  form ;  tyrants  in  heart,  and  enemies  to  the 
human  race.  This  monstrous  doctrine,  he  feared,  most 
abounded  in  the  free  States  ;  but  he  trusted  its  mushroom 
growth  would  be  of  short  duration.  It  was  a  public  prop 
injudiciously  applied  by  public  hands,  to  sustain  the 
tottering  institution  of  slavery.  He  remarked  that  the 
Senate,  must  not  suppose  from  what  he  had  said,  that  he 
was  about  to  present  a  petition  from  any  of  the  colored 
people.  No !  this  was  not  the  case.  The  petition  was 
from  free,  white  citizens  of  his  own  State,  residents  of 
the  county  of  Brown,  many  of  whom  he  knew  personally, 
and  could  bear  witness  to  their  respectability  and  patriot- 
ism. They  were  persons  of  piety  and  intelligence ;  not 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

fanatics  or  incendiaries,  but  men  who  loved  their  country; 
and  what  they  would  that  others  should  do  unto  them, 
they  were  willing  to  do  unto  others  ;  and  though  some  of 
the  signers  were  ladies,  he  considered  that  as  giving  the 
petition  additional  force. 

The  petitioners  do  not  ask  you  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia ;  they  do  not  ask  you  to  prohibit 
the  slave-trade  between  the  different  States  and  Terri- 
tories of  the  Union;  they  do  not  protest  against  the 
admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union ;  they  do  not  ask  that 
additional  slave  States  be  kept  out  of  our  Confederacy ; 
no,  Sir !  they  have  asked  and  prayed  to  you  against  these 
things,  until  deferred  hope  has  made  the  heart  sick. 
The  petitioners  only  state  as  their  opinion,  that  the  exist- 
ence of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  a  great 
national  sin ;  that,  like  the  blood  of  Abel,  it  is  calling 
loudly  from  the  ground  watered  by  its  tears,  to  Heaven, 
the  only  place  of  its  hope,  for  vengeance  upon  our  beloved 
country,  which  vengeance  they  deprecate.  And  they 
earnestly  pray  that  this  Honorable  Body  will  repeal  all 
Acts  of  Congress  in  any  way  favoring  slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict ;  and  they  feel  quite  sure  that  it  will  not  be  con- 
tended that  Congress  have  not  the  power  to  repeal  their 
own  laws.  Mr.  Morris  said,  he  was  well  satisfied  what 
would  be  the  fate  of  these  petitions,  from  the  settled 
practice  of  the  Senate  on  like  former  occasions.  Their 
petitions,  like  those  which  prayed  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  itself,  would  not  be  received  in  this  boasted 
temple  of  liberty,  but  would  be  thrown  back  by  those 
who  minister  at  the  altar,  into  the  face  of  the  petitioners, 
as  an  unclean  thing,  forbidden  by  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  country.  Not  discouraged  by  these  anticipa- 
tions, he  would,  as  he  had  formerly  said,  himself  move 
the  reception  of  the  petition ;  but  he  protested  against 
the  power  of  the  Senate  to  require  such  motion  to  be 
made,  either  by  virtue  of  their  own  Rules  .or  the  Consti- 


88  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

tution,  as  a  preliminary  one  before  a  petition  could  be 
received.  The  twenty  fourth  Eule  of  the  Senate,  which 
he  would  read,  declares,  that — "  Every  petition,  or  memo- 
rial, or  other  paper,  shall  be  referred,  of  course,  without 
putting  a  question  for  that  purpose,  unless  the  reference 
(not  the  reception)  is  objected  to  by  a  member,  at  the 
time  such  petition  is  presented.  And  before  any  petition 
or  memorial  be  received  or  read  at  the  Clerk's  table, 
whether  the  same  be  introduced  by  the  President  or  a 
member,  a  brief  statement  of  the  contents  shall  verbally 
be  made  by  the  introducer."  He  contended  that  this 
Rule  of  the  Senate,  was  decidedly  against  the  practice  of 
requiring  a  motion  to  receive  a  petition,  to  be  made,  and 
then  laying  that  motion  on  the  table,  in  order  to  rid  our- 
selves of  the  petition  altogether.  The  first  part  of  the 
Rule  requires  that  a  petition  shall  be  referred  as  a  matter 
of  course,  unless  objections  are  made  to  the  reference ; 
and  before  those  objections  can  be  made,  the  petition 
must  have  been  received  and  in  possession  of  the  Senate ; 
otherwise  the  order  of  reference  is  nugatory  and  vain, 
and  the  very  exception  to  receiving  a  petition,  that  its 
contents  must  be  first  stated  by  the  introducer,  excludes, 
upon  every  fair  principle  of  construction,  the  idea  that 
any  other  question  can  be  made  as  to  its  reception,  but  a 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  introducer  to  state  briefly  its 
contents. 

An  exception  to  the  general  rule,  is  always  considered 
as  evidence  that  the  operation  of  the  Rule  is  not  to  be 
impeded  in  any  other  manner  but  that  prescribed  by  the 
single  exception  made  a  part  of  it.  He  considered,  that 
to  raise  a  question  of  reception  to  petitions  of  the  kind  he 
was  about  to  present,  was  a  new  practice,  and  then  to  lay 
that  motion  on  the  table,  and  never  permit  it  to  be  taken 
up  and  put  to  the  vote,  was  a  device  for  a  special  purpose, 
a  false  coin,  to  be  put  off  as  valuable,  against  the  rights 
of  the  negro  only ;  for  never  to  his  knowledge,  had  it 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  89 

been  attempted  against  a  petition  for  the  relief  of  white 
persons.  For  their  rights,  it  was  not  yet  considered  a 
lawful  tender;  but  the  time  might  soon  come  when  it 
would  be  said  here,  that  the  laboring  class  of  the  white 
race,  ought  not  to  enjoy  or  exercise  political  privileges, 
but  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  the  free  colored  race ; 
indeed,  this  doctrine  was  already  boldly  advanced  out  of 
doors,  by  the  aristocracy  of  the  country,  whether  from  the 
North  or  the  South.  He  contended  that  the  very  propo- 
sition not  to  receive  a  petition,  was  in  itself  a  dangerous 
tendency,  destructive  of  the  privileges  of  the  people,  and 
in  derogation  of  their  Constitutional  rights.  It  was  his 
opinion,  ^hat  there  was  no  power  in  the  Senate  to  refuse 
to  receive  a  petition  ;  no  matter  what  the  prayer  or  the 
language  was,  it  must  be  received  before  any  judgment 
or  order  could  be  taken  on  it;  the  petition  could  then  be 
rejected  at  once,  thrown  upon  or  under  the  table,  or  leave 
given  to  withdraw  it,  as  the  Senate  might  judge  proper. 
He  said,  he  had  the  authority  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives to  sustain  him  in  his  position,  and  he  believed,  of 
every  State  Legislature  in  the  Union.  The  House,  as  he 
understood,  had  decided  that  it  was  bound  to  receive 
petitions,  but  had  laid  them  on  the  table,  without  being 
read,  referred,  debated,  or  printed.  But  in  not  admitting 
petitions  to  be  received,  by  making  the  acceptance  a 
question,  and  then  laying  that  question  on  the  table,  he 
believed  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  this  practice, 
stands  alone.  If  glory  was  derived  from  its  exercise,  it 
was  a  glory  whose  whole  brilliancy  shone  upon  the  dark 
side  of  slavery  only. 

It  would  be  remembered  that,  but  a  few  days  since,  a 
citizen  of  Philadelphia  presented  his  petition,  stating 
that  he  had  discovered  a  means  by  which  he  could  cause  it 
to  rain  when  and  where  he  pleased,  upon  any  given  spot, 
from  five  to  a  thousand  miles  square,  and  by  that  means 

could  keep  the  Ohio  river  always  navigable,  from  Pitts- 

8 


90  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MO.KRIS. 

burgh  to  its  outlet,  and  praying  Congress  to  aid  him  in 
his  new  and  valuable  enterprise.  The  Senate  thought, 
and  rightly  too,  that  their  power  was  confined  to  objects 
on  the  earth,  and  could  not  be  exercised  to  control  the 
elements  above  and  aroun'd  us,  and  that  the  object  of  the 
petitioner  was  not  within  their  power ;  but  yet,  they  did 
not  refuse  to  receive  this  petition  but  read  it  and  laid  the 
same  on  the  table. 

A  despotic  or  monarchial  government  he  admitted, 
might,  with  some  degree  of  propriety,  some  kind  of 
plausibility,  refuse  to  receive  a  petition  from  their  sub- 
jects, because  they  hold  that  their  power  is  derived  from 
the  Deity,  and  not  from  the  people  ;  and  that  they  have 
the  right  of  judging  what  the  people  need,  as  all  the 
privileges  they  enjoy  are  derived,  not  from  the  laws  of 
nature,  but  from  the  bounty  of  the  Crown.  But  with  us, 
the  reverse  of  this  is  the  foundation  of  our  Government. 
The  governing  principle  here  is,  that  all  power  is  inher- 
ent in  the  people,  and  all  just  Governments  are  founded 
upon  their  authority.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  petitions 
from  them  ought  to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  instruc- 
tions or  orders,  which  their  constituted  agents  are  bound 
to  obey. 

But,  there  is  another  still  higher  and  more  import- 
ant objection  to  the  course  pursued  by  the  Senate,  with 
regard  to  petitions  of  the  character  of  that  which  he  was 
called  on  to  present.  It  is  the  practice,  after  a  motion  to 
receive  such  petitions  is  made,  and  the  yeas  and  nays  on 
the  question  are  desired  by  one-fifth  of  the  members  pre- 
sent, to  prevent  that  question  being  put  to  the  vote  by  a 
subsequent  motion,  to  lay  the  former  motion  on  the  table. 
He  did  not  consider  the  Senate  bound  to  take  the  vote 
immediately  after  the  yeas  and  nays  had  been  ordered,  but 
they  were  bound  to  put  the  question  and  take  the  vote,  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  business,  and  during  the  session. 
The  Constitution,  he  considered  as  express  on  this  point, 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  91 

that  the  obligation  could  not  be  dispensed  with,  without  a 
palpable  violation  of  its  letter  as  well  as  its  spirit.  The 
words  of  the  Constitution  are,  "And  the  yeas  and  nays  of 
the  members  of  either  House,  on  any  question,  SHALL,  at 
the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered  on  the 
Journal."  He  thought  that  any  rule  or  practice  of  the 
Senate,  by  which  this  positive  requirement  of  the  Consti- 
tution, when  called  for  by  the  requisite  number,  is  denied, 
evaded,  or  put  off,  during  the  session,  was  a  palpable  vio- 
lation of  the  Constitution,  and  could  conceive  of  no  one 
more  open  and  dangerous.  Constitutions,  laws,  and  rules, 
are  framed  for  the  protection  of  minorities, — for  the  weak 
and  helpless.  "  Majorities  can,  for  the  time  being,  take 
care  of  themselves  ;  but  majorities  to-day  may  be  minori- 
ties to-morrow,  and  need  the  same  protection ;  hence  the 
necessity  of  always  adhering  to  correct  principles. 

To  men  not  versed  in  political  management,  one  would 
suppose  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  would  have  the 
same  meaning,  and  that  too,  a  certain  and  definite  one, 
not  to  be  altered  by  rule  or  evaded  by  policy.  He  feared 
it  was  the  dark  and  murky  cloud  of  slavery  which  ob- 
scured this  provision  of  the  Constitution,  and  prevented 
it  from  being  clearly  seen :  when  slavery  is  before  our 
eyes,  we  seem  incapable  of  seeing  any  other  object.  Gen- 
tlemen, he  hoped,  would  not,  on  this  question,  continue 
in  a  like  situation  with  that  notable  Indian  woman, 
who  declared  that  her  husband  was  always  before  her 
eyes,  and  prevented  her  from  seeing  any  other  man. 

His  complaint  was,  not  that  the  right  of  the  small  minor- 
ity, in  which  he  commonly  found  himself  on  questions  of 
this  kind,  was  unconstitutionally  taken  away — No  !  it  was 
the  rights  of  the  people ;  not  of  his  own  constituents  alone, 
but  of  the  whole  country.  It  surely  is  desirable  that  the 
votes  of  the  members  on  important  questions,  should  be 
known,  and  evidence  by  record,  furnished  of  the  fact  how 
each  member  voted.  This  is  the  right  and  privilege  of 


92  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

the  country,  a  right  which  they  have  placed  in  one-fifth 
of  the  members  present,  to  demand  for  them,  and  which  de- 
mand, they  have  said,  the  remaining  members  SHALL  obey. 

lie,  then,  in  their  name,  demanded  as  a  right,  of  the 
minority,  that  the  yeas  and  nays  on  a  motion  to  receive 
a  petition  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  when  desired  by  the 
competent  number,  be  entered  on  the  Journal.  There 
was  no  policy  or  favor  connected  with  the  demand.  It 
was  a  sheer,  naked  right,  and  to  prevent  its  enjoyment, 
by  the  power  of  a  majority,  was  a  plain,  palpable,  and 
open  violation  of  one  of  the  clearest  provisions  of  the 
Constitution.  He  said  it  was  no  frivolous  objection  on 
his  part  made  to  delay  the  business  or  weary  the  Senate. 
The  question  was  of  too  high  and  important  a  character 
to  be  met  and  trifled  with  by  technicalities.  He  never 
indulged  in  such  pastimes ;  but  he  did  consider  it  a  ques- 
tion of  vital  importance  to  the  country,  to  know  how  the 
members  of  the  Senate  would  vote  on  the  distinct  question 
of  receiving  a  petition  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  He  thought  it  highly  improper,  if  not  un- 
dignifiedj  to  evade  this  question,  by  laying  it  on  the  table. 
To  him  it  was  no  new  doctrine  to  contend  for  the  rights 
of  the  people  and  the  minority,  on  a  question  of  this  kind. 
The  Constitution  of  his  own  State  used  the  same  language 
as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  on  this  subject, 
but  placed  the  power  in  the  hands  of  two  members  only. 
Attempts  have  been  made  in  the  Senate  of  his  own  State, 
when  he  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member  of  that  body,  to 
evade  a  question,  by  a  side  motion,  after  the  yeas  and  nays 
had  been  called  for  by  two  members.  He  resisted  it  for 
the  same  reason  which  induced  him  to  resist  the  motion 
now.  He  was  then  sustained  by  the  Chair,  and  on  an 
appeal  was  triumphantly  sustained  by  the  Senate. 

It  was  hard  for  him  to  reconcile  the  practice  of  laying 
a  motion  on  the  table,  never  to  be  taken  up,  after  the 
yeas  and  nays  had  been  ordered,  with  another  practice  of 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  93 

the  Senate,  which  would  not  permit  even  the  mover  of  a 
proposition  to  withdraw  it,  after  a  like  call  had  been 
ordered ;  but  he  left  it  for  the  gentlemen  who  had  the  power 
of  the  majority  in  their  hands,  to  reconcile  their  inconsis- 
tencies here,  and  justify  their  practice  to  the  country  and 
posterity. 

It  was  a  miserable  expedient  to  cover  over  our  foot- 
eteps  in  our  march  against  the  temple  of  the  Constitution. 
The  present,  it  was  true,  was  an  isolated  case.  It  stood 
alone ;  no  other  combination  of  power  and  strength  had, 
before  this,  been  able  to  accomplish  so  much.  The  slave- 
holding  power  alone,  was  now  found  sufficient  to  close  the 
eyes,  and  still  the  voice  of  the  country,  while  its  dark  cloud 
it  o'er-spreading  the  whole  land.  He  felt  gratified,  when 
now  his  official  labors  were  ceasing,  that,  for  himself  and 
for  his  country,  he  had  the  opportunity  to  make  his  most 
solemn  protest  against  the  whole  proceedings  of  Congress, 
with  regard  to  petitions  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

He  would  say  to  the  friends  of  humanity,  of  justice,  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws,  be  not  discouraged.  Though  the 
deadly  mildew  of  slavery  has  destroyed  the  tender  vine, 
yet  shall  its  branches  again  shoot  forth.  The  light  in  the 
Temple  of  Liberty  is  not  yet  quite  extinguished ;  though 
your  members  are  few,  and  yourselves  at  present,  a 
despised  class ;  yet  your  cause  is  just,  strong  and  power- 
ful ;  with  the  shield  of  faith,  and  the  armor  of  right  and 
hope,  rush  to  the  rescue,  and  prevent  the  now  flickering 
flame  from  being  totally  extinguished.  A  nation,  a  world 
is  coming  to  your  aid,  and  your  Jtnal  triumph  is  as  certain  as 
that,  "  seed  time  and  harvest,  cold  and  heat,  summer  and  winter, 
day  and  night,  shall  not  cease." 

Pray,  Mr.  President,  who  are  those  who,  if  petitions  to 
abolish  slavery  are  presented,  or  if  Congress  should 
attempt  to  consider  the  proceedings  of  one  of  the  sove- 
reign States  on  this  subject,  threaten  to  dissolve  the  Union  ? 
Is  it  we,  who  come  before  you  as  humble  petitioners  ? 


94  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

No,  sir,  we  use  no  such  language;  nor  do  we  for  a 
moment,  harbor  such  a  thought,  whatever  may  be  our 
fate.  Dissolve  the  Union !  destroy  the  relations  and 
amity  now  existing  between  these  States!  What  State 
will  first  lift  its  fratricidal  hands  in  this  unholy  work  ? 
What  man,  like  Cain,  would  murder  his  brother?  They 
are  not,  Sir,  to  be  found  among  those  with  whom  I  act, 
who  are  the  friends  of  liberty  and  law. 

No,  Sir !  we  throw  back  the  charge  upon  those  who  are 
endeavoring  to  deprive  us  of  our  unquestionable  rights. 
Is  it  from  the  deep  fountain  of  the  heart  they  speak, 
when  they  talk  of  dissolving  the  Union  ?  To  deny  to  any 
the  right  of  petition,  he  thought,  was  a  thrust  aimed  at 
one  of  the  Union's  strongest  ligaments ;  but  he  trusted 
the  vital  principle  of  the  Constitution  was  sufficient  to 
restore  it  to  its  wonted  vigor,  from  injurious  assaults  like 
this.  This,  Sir,  is  a  disagreeable  subject  for  discussion, 
had  always  held,  that  to  utter  such  sentiments,  either 
in  public  or  in  private,  that  the  Union  would,  for  any 
cause  whatever,  be  dissolved,  was  in  bad  taste.  Gentlemen, 
he  was  sure,  were  mistaken,  if  they  thought  that  by 
threats  of  this  kind,  the  people  could  be  induced  to  sur- 
render an  iota  of  their  Constitutional  rights.  The  safety 
and  perpetual  continuance  of  the  Union,  he  considered, 
mainly  depended  on  the  preservation  and  full  enjoyment 
of  all  those  rights  in  their  pristine  purity. 

For  himself,  he  was  not  disposed  to  falter  in  his  course, 
or  fail  to  perform  his  duty,  here  or  elsewhere,  on  the 
ground  that  if  he  did  so,  others  threatened  to  rush  upon 
crime.  He  wanted  further  to  say,  to  the  Senate  and  to 
the  country,  that  though  himself,  and  those  with  whom 
he  thought  on  this  subject,  were  disposed  to  bear  and  suf- 
fer much ;  yet  they,  as  well  as  others,  could  think  and 
could  feel ;  and  if  that  ill-fated  hour  should  ever  come 
when,  in  defense  of  their  dearest  rights,  it  was  found  necessary, 
they  could,  and  would,  also  act. 


LIFE   OF   SENATOR   MORRIS.  95 


CHAPTER   XII. 

INCREASED  AGITATION  —  Numbers  of  Petitioners  —  Confessions  of  Sena- 
tors —  Calhoun's  Resolutions  —  Counter-Resolutions,  by  Morris  —  His 
Remarks  —  Record  in  his  Memorandum  Book  of  this  Struggle  in  the 
Senate. 

THE  session  of  Congress  of  1837-8  was  marked  with  a 
deeper  and  more  extended  agitation  of  Slavery,  both  in 
the  country  and  in  Congress.  The  vexed  question,  like 
an  ever  present  apparition,  would  return  and  demand  a 
re-hearing.  To  restore  tranquillity  appeared  to  be  beyond 
the  magical  wand  of  Senatorial  Wisdom.  The  great  sea 
of  public  commotions,  and  agitations,  rolled  higher  and 
deeper.  The  public  mind  and  conscience  of  the  nation 
had  quickened  and  deepened,  and  went  up  with  increased 
power  to  the  tribunal  of  our  national  legislature.  The 
session  of  Congress  for  1834-5  received  and  rejected  34,000 
petitioners ;  the  session  of  1835-6,  110,000 ;  and  the  ses- 
sion of  1837-8,  witnessed  300,000  American  citizens  peti- 
tioning Congress  on  the  subject  of  Slavery. 

It  was  in  view  of  this  increasing  agitation,  and  aug- 
menting power  of  freedom,  that  Mr.  Morris,  in  a  tone  of 
triumph,  asked  his  co-Senators,  "  Is  abolitionism  dead,  or 
is  it  just  awaking  into  life  ?  Is  the  right  of  petition 
forgotten,  or  is  it  increasing  in  strength  and  force  ?  Let 
me  bring  back  the  minds  of  Senators  from  their  delight- 
ful visions  of  the  death  of  abolition  to  sober  realities  and 
solemn  facts.  I  have  now  lying  before  me  the  names  of 
thousands  of  living  witnesses,  that  slavery  has  not  con- 
quered liberty ;  that  abolitionists  (for  so  all  these  petition- 
ers are  called)  are  not  all  dead.  But  suppose  abolition- 


96  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

ism  is  dead,  is  liberty  also  dead,  and  slavery  triumphant  ? 
Is  liberty  of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition 
also  dead  ?  True,  it  is  strangled  here,  but  Senators  will 
find  themselves  in  great  error,  if  they  suppose  it  is  also 
strangled  in  the  country.  It  is  a  living  principle  which 
slavery  can  not  extinguish." 

Southern  Senators  were  compelled  to  confess  the  same 
fact: 

Mr.  Clay  said  ;  "  it  was  manifest  that  the  subject  of  sla- 
very in  the  District  of  Columbia,  was  extending  itself  in 
the  public  mind,  and  daily  engaging  more  and  more  of 
the  public  attention." 

Mr.  Preston  said  :  "  The  fire  is  wider,  and  is  spreading 
wider  and  wider ;  the  fire  is  not  put  out,  but  is  kindled 
worse  and  worse." 

Mr.  Calhoun  said  :  "  Abolitionism  was  interwoven  with 
the  political  condition  of  the  North,  and  it  runs,  and 
must  run  into  their  struggles  for  State  ascendency.  It 
was  impossible  to  prevent  its  having  a  control  over  the 
political  parties  of  the  North.  Abolition  efforts  would 
begin  with  the  lowest  grades  of  society,  but  it  would  go 
up  and  spread.  However  much  he  and  others  were 
opposed  to  its  doctrines,  it  would  one  day  spread  so  as  to 
drive  him  from  public  life,  or  compel  him  to  yield  to  its 
dictates." 

To  counteract  and  arrest  these  efforts  against  slavery, 
Mr.  Calhoun  applied  all  his  great  abilities  as  a  statesman. 
In  December,  1837,  he  presented  the  following  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  in  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, the  States  adopting  the  same  acted,  severally,  as  free, 
independent,  and  sovereign  States  ;  and  that  each  by  itself, 
by  its  own  voluntary  assent,  entered  the  Union  with  the 
view  to  its  increased  security  against  all  dangers,  domestic, 
as  well  as  foreign,  and  the  more  perfect  and  secure  enjoy- 
ment of  its  advantages,  natural,  political  and  social. 

Resolved,  That  in  delegating  a  portion  of  their  powers 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  97 

to  be  exercised  by  the  Federal  Government,  the  States 
retained,  severally,  the  exclusive  and  sole  right  over  their 
own  domestic  institutions  and  police,  and  are  alone  res- 
ponsible for  them,  and  that  any  intermeddling  of  any  one, 
or  more  States,  or  a  combination  of  their  citizens,  with 
the  domestic  institutions  and  police  of  the  others,  on  any 
ground,  or  any  pretext  whatever,  political,  moral,  or 
religious,  with  a  view  to  their  alteration,  or  subversion, 
is  an  assumption  of  superiority  not  warranted  by  the  Con- 
stitution ;  insulting  to  the  States  interfered  with  ;  tending 
to  endanger  their  domestic  peace  and  tranquillity ;  sub- 
versive of  the  objects  for  which  the  Constitution  was 
framed,  and  by  necessary  consequences,  tending  to  weaken 
and  destroy  the  Union  itself. 

Resolved,  That  this  Government  was  instituted  and 
adopted  by  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  as  a  common 
agent  in  order  to  carry  into  effect  the  powers  which  they 
had  delegated  by  the  Constitution  for  their  mutual  secu- 
rity and  prosperity;  and  that  in  the  fulfillment  of  this 
high  and  sacred  trust  this  Government  is  bound  so  to 
exercise  its  powers  as  to  give,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable, 
increased  stability  and  security  to  the  domestic  institutions 
of  the  States,  that  compose  the  Union  ;  and  that  it  is  the 
solemn  duty  of  the  Government,  to  resist  all  attempts  by 
one  portion  of  the  Union  to  use  it  as  an  instrument  to 
attack  the  domestic  institutions  of  another,  or  to  weaken 
or  destroy  such  institutions,  instead  of  strengthening  and 
upholding  them,  as  in  duty  bound  to  do. 

Resolved,  That  domestic  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the 
Southern  and  Western  States  of  the  Union,  composes  an 
important  part  of  their  domestic  institutions,  inherited 
from  their  ancestors,  and  existing  at  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  by  which  it  is  recognized,  as  constituting  an 
essential  element  in  the  distributions  of  its  powers  among 
the  States ;  and  that  no  change  of  opinion,  or  feeling,  on 
the  part  of  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  in  relation  to  it, 
9 


P*  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

can  justify  them  or  their  citizens  in  open  and  systematic 
attacks  thereon,  with  a  view  to  its  overthrow  ;  and  that 
all  such  attacks,  are  in  manifest  violation  of  the  mutual 
and  solemn  pledges  to  protect  and  defend  each  other, 
given  by  the  States,  respectively,  on  entering  into  the  Con- 
stitutional compact,  which  formed  the  Union,  and  as  such 
is  a  manifest  breach  of  faith,  and  a  violation  of  the  most 
solemn  obligations,  moral  and  religious. 

Resolved,  That  the  intermeddling  of  any  State  or 
States,  or  their  citizens,  to  abolish  slavery  hi  this  Dis- 
trict, or  any  of  the  Territories,  on  the  ground,  or  under 
the  pretext,  that  is  immoral  or  sinful ;  or  the  passage  of 
any  act  or  measure  of  Congress,  with  that  view — would  be 
a  direct  and  dangerous  attack  on  the  Constitution  of  all 
slave-holding  States. 

Resolved,  That  the  Union  of  these  States  rests  on  an 
equality  of  rights  and  advantages  among  its  members  ; 
and  that  whatever  tends  to  destroy  that  equality,  tends 
to  destroy  the  Union  itself;  and  that  it  is  the  solemn  duty 
of  all,  and  more  especially  of  this  body  which  represents 
the  States  in  their  corporate  capacity,  to  resist  all  attempts 
to  discriminate  between  the  States,  in  extending  the 
benefits  of  the  Government  to  the  several  portions  of  the 
Union,  and  that  to  refuse  to  extend  to  the  Southern  and 
Western  States,  any  advantage  which  would  tend  to 
strengthen  or  render  them  more  secure,  or  increase 
their  limits  or  population  by  the  annexation  of  new  Ter- 
ritory or  States,  on  the  assumption  or  under  the  pretext 
that  the  institution  of  slavery,  as  it  exists  among  them, 
is  immoral,  or  sinful,  or  otherwise  obnoxious,  would  bo 
contrary  to  that  equality  of  rights  and  advantages  which 
the  Constitution  was  intended  to  secure  alike  to  all  the 
members  of  the  Union,  and  would,  in  effect,  disfranchise 
the  slave-holding  States,  withholding  from  them  the 
advantages,  while  it  subjected  them  to  the  burdens  of  the 
Government. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  99 

These  resolutions  threw  the  Constitution,  and  the 
Legislation  of  Congress,  and  the  sanctions  of  religion  to 
the  support  and  perpetuity  of  slavery.  Mr.  Morris  pre- 
sented counter  resolutions,  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  formation  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, the  States  acted  in  their  sovereign  capacities ; 
but  the  adoption  of  the  same  was  by  the  people  of  the 
several  States,  by  their  agents,  specially  elected  for  that 
purpose ;  and  the  people  of  the  several  States,  by  their 
own  free  and  voluntary  consent,  entered  into  the  compact 
of  union  proposed  in  the  Constitution,  with  the  view  to 
form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  ensure 
domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  themselves  and  their  posterity ;  and  that  the 
means  of  attaining  all  those  important  objects  are  fully 
provided  for  in  the  grants  of  power  contained  in  the  Con- 
stitution itself. 

Resolved,  That  the  people  of  the  several  States,  in  dele- 
gating a  portion  of  their  power  to  the  Federal  Government, 
which  they  had  formerly  exercised  by  their  own  legisla- 
tures, severally  retained  the  exclusive  and  sole  right  over 
their  domestic  institutions,  which  they  had  not,  by  the 
Constitution  granted  to  the  Federal  Government;  and 
they  reserved  to  individuals,  and  to  the  States  in  their 
sovereign  character,  the  full  liberty  of  speech  and  to  the 
press,  to  discuss  the  domestic  institutions  of  any  of  the 
States,  whether  political,  moral,  or  religious;  and  that  it 
would  be  the  exercise  of  unauthorized  power  on  the  part 
of  this  Government,  or  of  any  of  the  States,  to  attempt  to 
restrain  the  same  ;  and  that  any  endeavor  to  do  so  would 
be  insulting  to  the  people  and  the  States  so  interfered 
with ;  for  each  State  alone  has  the  power  to  punish  indi- 
viduals for  the  abuse  of  this  liberty  within  their  own 
jurisdiction;  and  whenever  one  State  shall  attempt  to 
make  criminal,  acts  done  by  citizens  in  another  State, 


100  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

which  are  lawful  in  the  State  where  done,  the  necessary 
consequence  would  be  to  weaken  the  bonds  of  our  Union. 

Resolved,  That  this  Government  was  adopted  by  the 
people  of  the  several  States  of  this  Union  as  a  common, 
agent,  to  carry  into  effect  the  powers  which  they  had 
delegated  by  the  Constitution ;  and  in  fulfillment  of  this 
high  and  sacred  trust,  this  Government  is  bound  so  to 
exercise  its  powers  as  not  to  interfere  with  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States  over  their  own  domestic  institutions  j 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  this  Government  to  refrain  from  any 
attempt,  however  remote,  to  operate  on  the  liberty  of 
speech  and  the  press,  as  secured  to  the  citizens  of  each 
State  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  thereof.  That  the 
United  States  are  bound  to  secure  to  each  State  a  repub- 
lican form  of  Government,  and  to  protect  each  of  them 
against  invasion  or  domestic  violence,  and  for  no  other 
purpose  can  Congress  interfere  with  the  internal  police 
of  a  State. 

Resolved,  That  domestic  slavery,  as  it  exists  in  the 
southern  and  western  States,  is  a  moral  and  political  evil, 
and  that  its  existence,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  is  not  recognized  by  that  instrument  as  an 
essential  element  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers  over  the 
several  States,  and  no  change  of  feeling  on  the  part  of 
any  of  the  States  can  justify  them  or  their  citizens  in 
open  and  systematic  attacks  on  the  right  of  petition,  the 
freedom  of  speech,  or  the  liberty  of  the  press,  with  a  view 
to  silence  either,  on  any  subject  whatever;  and  that  all 
such  attacks  are  manifest  violations  of  the  mutual  and 
solemn  pledge  to  protect  and  defend  each  other,  and  as 
such  are  a  manifest  breach  of  faith,  and  a  violation  of 
the  most  solemn  obligations,  political,  moral  and  religious. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  indisputable  right  of  any  State, 
or  any  citizen  thereof,  as  well  as  an  indispensable  duty, 
to  endeavor,  by  all  legal  and  Constitutional  means,  to 
abolish  whatever  is  immoral  and  sinful,  and  that  Congress 


LIFE  OF  SENATOR  MORRIS.  101 

alone  possesses  the  power  to  abolish  slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  in  this  District  or  any  of  the  Territories  of 
the  United  States ;  and  the  right  of  petition,  of  speech, 
and  of  the  press,  to  accomplish  this  object,  is  not  to  be 
questioned,  and  that  an  act  of  Congress  on  this  subject 
would  be  within  its  Constitutional  powers. 

Resolved,  That  the  Union  of  these  States  rests  upon  the 
virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  citizens  in  supporting  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  not  upon  any  sup- 
posed advantages  it  may  afford  to  any  particular  State ; 
and  that  it  is  the  solemn  duty  of  all,  more  especially  of 
this  body,  which  represents  the  States  in  their  sovereign 
capacity,  to  resist  all  attempts  to  discriminate  between 
the  States  ;  and  that  it  would  be  unwise,  unjust  and  con- 
trary to  the  Constitution,  to  annex  any  new  Territory, 
or  State,  to  this  confederacy,  with  a  view  to  the  advantage 
of  any  State,  or  its  peculiar  domestic  institutions;  that 
such  an  attempt  would  be  contrary  to  that  equality  of 
rights  which  one  object  of  the  Constitution  was  to  secure 
alike  to  all  the  States  j  and  if  done  to  favor  the  slave- 
holding  States,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  those  States 
a  preponderance  in  this  Government,  would  in  effect  be  to 
establish  slavery  in  all  the  States. 

Resolved,  That  to  regulate  commerce  among  the  several 
States  is  an  express  power  granted  by  the  Constitution  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  That,  in  the  exercise 
of  this  power,  Congress  may  rightfully  prohibit  any 
article,  though  made  property  by  the  laws  of  a  State, 
from  being  used  in  such  commerce,  if  the  same  would  be 
detrimental  to  the  general  welfare. 

Resolved,  That  Congress  have  possessed  the  power  since 
1808  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  persons  into  any  State 
as  articles  of  commerce  or  merchandise. 

Resolved,  That  the  political  condition  of  the  people 
within  the  District  of  Columbia  is  subject  to  State  regu- 
lation j  and  that  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  its  legislative 


102  LIFE    OF    8ENATOE    MORRIS. 

powers  over  the  District,  is  bound  by  the  will  of  its  con- 
stituents in  the  same  manner  as  when  legislating  for  the 
people  of  the  United  States  generally. 

Resolved,  That  this  Government  was  founded  and  has 
been  sustained  by  the  force  of  public  opinion,  and  that 
the  free  and  full  exercise  of  that  opinion  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  its  healthy  action  ;  and  that  any  system 
which  will  not  bear  the  test  of  public  examination  is  at 
war  with  its  fundamental  principles  ;  and  that  any  pro- 
ceedings on  the  part  of  those  who  administer  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  States^  or  any  of  the  States,  or  any  citizens 
thereof,  which  is  intended  or  calculated  to  make  disrepu- 
table the  free  and  full  exercise  of  the  thoughts  and 
opinions  of  any  portion  of  our  citizens,  on  any  subject 
connected  with  the  political  or  religious  institutions  of 
our  country,  whether  expressed  by  petition  to  Congress, 
or  otherwise,  by  attaching  to  the  character  of  such  insti- 
tutions odious  and  reproachful  names  and  epithets,  strikes 
at  the  very  foundation  of  all  our  civil  institutions,  as  well 
as  our  personal  safety,  poisons  the  very  foundation  of 
public  justice,  and  excites  mobs  and  other  unlawful  assem- 
blies to  deeds  of  violence  and  blood.  That  our  only 
safety  is  in  tolerating  error  of  opinion,  while  reason  is 
left  free  to  combat  it. 


When  they  were  read,  Mr.  Calhoun  exclaimed  —  "Yes! 
here  was  displayed  the  absolute  creed  of  the  Abolitionists, 
fully  developed.  It  was  a  fair  specimen  of  their  doctrine 
in  full  color. 


Mr.  Morris  remarked,  in  reply : 

"  The  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  in  offering  his 
resolutions,  had  thrown  the  glove,  and  with  expressions  of 
triumph,  asserted  that  none  in  the  Senate,  in  his  opinion, 
could  vote  against  his  views.  He,  however,  dared  to  enter 
the  lists  single  handed,  and  engage  with  him.  The  resolutions 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  103 

in  themselves,  were  to  his  mind,  broad,  sweeping,  and 
denunciatory.  What  was  the  object  of  these  resolutions? 
Was  it  not  that  a  free  discussion  on  an  important  ques- 
tion should  not  only  be  discountenanced,  but  silenced  by 
a  vote  of  that  Body?  They  were  partial  in  their  bearing, 
speaking  on  one  side,  and  not  on  another.  He  did  not, 
for  one,  believe  that  Southern  rights  existed  antagonist 
to  those  of  any  other  portion  of  the  Union.  Why  talk 
of  Southern  interests,  and  of  Southern  feelings?  Such 
sentiments  might  lead  to  geographical  distinctions,  but 
could  never  lead  to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  whole 
country. 

He  professed  himself  a  State-rights'  man,  and  had  as 
high  devotion  to  the  Union  as  any  one ;  but  he  did  not 
agree  with  the  views  of  the  Senator,  that  this  Kepublic 
was  a  Confederacy  of  separate  and  independent  States. 
He  considered  the  Constitution  as  adopted  and  ratified  by 
the  united  voice  of  the  people. 

What  does  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  mean,  by 
interfering  with  domestic  policy  ?  Would  that  Senator 
contend,  that  if  the  citizens  of  the  free  States  talked  of 
slavery  in  the  abstract,  as  a  sin  —  a  great  moral,  social, 
and  political  evil  —  that  they  should  have  their  rights 
abridged?  Freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  the 
sacred  right  of  petition,  were  all  sought  to  be  put  down 
at  one  fell  swoop.  If  we  could  not  meet  together  and 
discuss  subjects,  and  compare  conditions  with  others,  for 
evil  or  for  good,  we  should,  instead  of  progressing  in  our 
high  national  destiny,  retrograde,  and  become  cyphers. 
Was  such  a  state  of  things  contemplated  by  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  ?  He  should  think  not. 

Mr.  Morris  intended  to  offer  his  resolutions  as  amend- 
ments ;  he  would  not  now  do  so,  but  would  press  them  on 
the  notice  of  the  Senate  hereafter.  He  conceived  the 
resolutions  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  as  liable 
to  the  strongest  objections,  and  as  warring  against  the 


104  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

dearest  rights  and  privileges  of  freemen.  The  Memorial 
from  the  Legislature  of  Yermont,  had  said  that  slavery 
was  considered  a  moral  and  political  evil,  and  asked  that 
it  might  be  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  and 
had  not  that  State  a  right  to  ask  such  a  measure  at  the 
hands  of  Congress,  if  it  thought  such  a  step  would  tend 
to  the  national  honor  and  prosperity  ? 

He  was  not  to  be  intimidated,  or  driven  from  the  course 
he  thought  it  his  duty  to  pursue.  He  knew  what  he  was 
about,  and  understood  his  own  course ;  and  he  would  be 
here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  free  and  unshackled,  and 
exempt  from  all  party  restraints,  as  an  American  citizen 
ought  to  be,  and  express  fully  and  freely  his  opinion  on 
every  subject  before  this  Body. 

In  the  arguments  here  on  the  liberty  of  speech,  changes 
were  continually  rung  on  the  Union.  Now  it  was  a 
question  whether  the  resolutions  themselves,  of  the  Sen- 
ator from  South  Carolina,  had  not  a  strong  squinting 
toward  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  It  was  not  for  him 
to  say,  that  they  were  intended  to  produce  that  effect ; 
but  the  country  would  scrutinize  them.  If  they  were  not 
intended  to  operate  against  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of 
the  press,  they  would  have  that  effect.  If  that  right  is 
put  down  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  I  must  submit  to 
those  laws. 

He  was  responsible  alone,  to  the  State  in  which  he  lived 
for  the  abuse  of  this  privilege,  and  not  to  this  Govern- 
ment. They  would  not  attempt  to  pass  another  gag-law ; 
though  the  gag-law  was  a  sheet  of  white  paper,  compared 
with  these  resolutions.  TVhy  attempt  thus  to  silence 
speech  and  the  press  without  a  law  ?  Let  the  same  thing 
be  done  by  law,  and  then  see  whether  the  people  had 
become  so  base  as  to  permit  these  privileges  to  be  taken 
from  them.  All  the  world  could  give  was  less  than  chaff, 
compared  with  the  liberty  of  speech. 

In  this  contest,  he  well  knew  with  whom  he  had  to 


• 
LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  105 

engage ;  he  knew  the  prejudices  that  were  against  him, 
and  that  his  best  friends  would  differ  from  him.  He  had 
wholly  counted  the  cost,  and  resolved  to  meet  every  difficulty,  and 
do  his  duty.  No  objection  had  been  made  to  the  doctrine 
of  his  resolutions ;  but  it  was  to  be  put  down  by  the 
imputation  that  it  was  intended  to  embarrass.  The  truth, 
Sir,  often  embarrassed  those  who  were  in  error.  It  was 
their  misfortune.  When  war  was  made  on  the  freedom 
of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition,  these 
inalienable  rights  must  and  would  be  defended.  They 
were  "Heaven's  best  gift  to  man." 

0 

In  order  to  save  religion  from  the  reproach  of  sustain- 
ing the  system  of  slavery,  he  moved  that  the  terms, 
"moral  and  religious,"  be  stricken  out  from  the  Resolu- 
tions  of  Mr.  Calhoun ;  which  was  largely  voted  down ; 
and  after  some  slight  alterations,  the  Senate  passed  the 
Eesolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  by  a  very  large  majority. 

The  day  on  which  Mr.  Morris  struggled  so  earnestly 
against  these  Resolutions,  was  the  anniversary  of  his 
birth-day.  Eeturning  from  the  Senate  Chamber  to  his 
room,  he  made  the  following  record  in  his  memorandum- 
book  : 

WASHINGTON,  January  3d,  1838. 

I  am  this  day  sixty-two  years  of  age.  Forty  years 
ago,  the  19th  of  November  last,  I  was  married ;  and  am 
now  about  fifteen  hundred  miles  from  my  wife,  who  is 
now  at  her  daughter's,  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  We  have 
raised  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom  are  still  living. 
We  began  the  world  poor  and  friendless,  and  have  strug- 
gled through  life  with  much  difficulty.  I  am  now  a  Sen- 
ator in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  have  this 
day,  in  a  small  minority,  been  defending  the  liberty  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  the  right  of  petition.  Reso- 
lutions have  been  introduced  declaring,  that  we  have  no 
right  —  either  political,  moral,  or  religious  —  to  discuss 
the  institutions  of  any  State,  with  a  view  to  effect  a 


106 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


change  in  those  institutions.  The  object  is  to  prevent  the 
discussion  of  slavery  in  any  of  the  States ;  but  the  Eeso- 
lutions  strike  at  all  discussion.  I  regard  these  Resolu- 
tions as  the  most  daring  attempt  against  American  lib- 
erty, that  has  yet  been  brought  forward  in  Congress, 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Eepublic,  and  as  such  I 
oppose  them. 

In  these  remarks  and  resolutions,  the  reader  can  not 
fail  to  see  the  stern  inflexibility  of  principle,  and  granite 
firmness  of  a  moral  hero.  He  stood  alone  in  that  august 
body,  in  defense  of  the  dearest  rights  of  his  countrymen, 
and  in  his  noble  position  presents  a  spectacle  of  the  moral 
sublime.  How,  too,  are  his  prophetic  words  fulfilled  1 
The  nation  has,  indeed,  inspired  by  the  voice  of  freedom, 
rushed  to  the  rescue ;  giving  unmistakable  evidences,  that 
the  cause  which  Mr.  Morris  so  nobly  sustained  in  the 
Senate  of  the  "United  States,  and  elsewhere,  will  soon  issue 
in  a  glorious  victory. 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  107 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  MEMORABLE  day  in  Mr.  Morris's  History — Mr.  Clay's  great  Speech 
against  Abolitionists  and  Slavery  Agitation  —  Mr.  Morris's  great 
speech  in  answer  to  it.  A  Southern  Senator  said  Mr.  Morris  deserved 
expulsion  —  Reception  through  the  country  —  A  Contrast  —  Death  of 
Calhoun  —  Clay  —  Webster  —  Morris  —  Eternal  nature  of  Truth. 

THE  9th  of  February,  1839,  was  a  memorable  day  in 
the  political  life  of  Thomas  Morris,  and  in  the  history  of 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  On  that  day  he  laid  the 
corner-stone  in  the  monument  of  his  fame  and  character, 
in  a  great  speech,  replete  with  the  principles  of  freedom, 
and  uttered  under  the  inspiration  of  their  truth  and 
importance.  It  was  an  occasion  of  unusual  interest.  All 
efforts  to  prevent  agitation  on  slavery  had  failed.  The 
voice  of  freedom,  ever  instinct  with  life,  would  be  heard, 
and  that  voice,  still  rang  loud  and  clear  in  both  halls  of 
the  National  Legislature.  Agitators  would  agitate,  and 
the  public  councils  of  the  nation  must  be  the  arena  for 
the  battle  between  freedom  and  slavery. 

Henry  Clay,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1839,  with  all  his 
fascinating  eloquence,  eminent  abilities,  and  great  politi- 
cal influence,  made  a  great  speech  to  counteract  and  arrest 
the  public  agitation  of  slavery.  He  presented  "  a  memo- 
rial from  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  remonstrating  against  the  interference  of 
other  parts  of  the  country,  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in 
the  District,  and  against  any  action  on  the  part  of  Con- 
gress to  comply  with  the  objects  of  the  anti-slavery 
petitions." 

In  that  effort,  Mr.  Clay  admitted  the  numbers,  and 


108  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

growing  influence  of  the  Abolitionists  ;  "  they  had  ceased 
to  employ  the  instruments  of  reason  and  persuasion,  and 
had  made  their  cause  political,  and  their  appeal  to  the 
ballot-box  ;  he  deprecated  the  slave  question  to  be  carried 
into  the  arena  of  politics ;  he  believed  that  neither  of  the 
two  great  parties,  had  a  design  to  mingle  it  in  the  politics  of 
the  country ;  it  was  inexpedient,  if  not  unconstitutional 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  it  was  the 
purpose  of  the  Abolitionists  to  operate  on  slavery  in  the 
States ;  they  presented  exaggerated  pictures  of  the  slave 
system  to  the  country  ;  that  there  were  insuperable  obsti- 
cles  to  emancipation ;  that  twelve  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  were  invested  in  human  beings  in  the  slave  States ; 
that  through  an  uninterrupted  period  of  two  centuries, 
under  every  form  of  legislation  it  had  been  held,  that 
that  is  property  which  the  law  declares  to  be  property ; 
that  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  would  probably  excite 
a  servile  war,  and  be  attended  with  great  evils  to  the  free 
laborers  of  the  North  j  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  must 
be  left  to  the  workings  of  Providence,  in  the  future  of  the 
next  hundred  years;  that  its  agitation  produced  great 
and  manifold  evils  ;  that  the  liberties  of  the  slaves,  if  it 
were  possible,  could  only  be  established,  by  violating  the 
incontestable  rights  of  the  States,  subverting  the  Union, 
and  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  Union,  would  be  buried 
sooner  or  later,  the  liberty  of  both  races.  He  therefore 
adjured  the  clergy,  and  entreated  his  white  country-men, 
and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  free  States,  to  rebuke  and 
discountenance  measures,  that  must  lead  to  the  most 
calamitous  consequences,  the  ink  shed  in  signing  memo- 
rials might  prove  a  prelude  to  the  shedding  of  the  blood 
of  their  brethren." 

"  I  am  no  friend  to  slavery,"  said  Mr.  Clay.  "  The 
searcher  of  hearts  knows  that  every  pulsation  of  my 
heart  beats  high  and  strong  for  civil  liberty."  "  If  I  could  " 
said  this  great  orator,  in  the  hall  of  Congress,  in  a  coloniza- 


LIFE  OF   SENATOR  MORRIS.  109 

tion  speech,  "be  the  instrument  in  eradicating  this  deepest 
stain  upon  the  character  of  our  country,  and  removing  the 
cause  of  reproach  on  account  of  it  by  foreign  nations — if 
I  could  be  instrumental  in  ridding  this  foul  blot  from  that 
State  which  gave  me  birth,  or  that  not  less  beloved  State 
which  kindly  adopted  me  as  her  son,  I  would  not  exchange 
the  proud  satisfaction  which  I  should  enjoy,  for  all  the 
triumph  ever  decreed  to  the  most  successful  conqueror." 

"  What  would  they,  who  reproach  us,  have  done?  If 
they  would  repress  all  tendencies  toward  liberty,  they 
must  go  back  to  the  era  of  our  liberty  and  independence, 
and  muzzle  the  cannon  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous 
return.  They  must  revive  the  slave  trade  with  all  its 
train  of  atrocities.  They  must  suppress  the  workings  of 
British  philanthrophy,  seeking  to  ameliorate  the  condi- 
tion of  the  unfortunate  West  India  slaves.  They  must 
arrest  the  cause  of  South  American  deliverance  from 
thraldom. 

"  They  must  blow  out  all  the  moral  lights  around  us, 
and  extinguish  the  greatest  torch  of  all  which  America 
presents  to  a  benighted  world,  pointing  the  way  to  their 
rights,  to  their  liberties  and  their  happiness ;  and  when 
they  have  achieved  all  their  purposes,  their  work  will 
then  be  incomplete.  They  must  penetrate  the  human 
soul,  and  eradicate  the  light  of  reason  and  liberty.  Then 
and  not  until  then,  when  universal  darkness  and  despair 
prevails,  can  you  perpetuate  slavery,  and  repress  all  sym- 
pathies, and  all  human  and  benevolent  effort  among  free- 
men in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  portion  of  our  race  who 
are  doomed  to  bondage." 

How  strangely  these  stirring  words  of  the  orator, 
uttered  Jan.  20th,  1827,  contrast  with  his  sentiments,  and 
doctrines  proclaimed  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
February  7th,  1839,  when  he  made  an  extraordinary  effort 
to  repress  all  sympathies  among  freemen,  for  the  eradi- 


110  LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

cation  of  what  he  called  the  "deepest  stain,"  and  "foul 
blot  "  upon  the  character  of  the  nation. 

Who  then  answered  and  confronted  this  distinguished 
orator  and  politician  ?  Let  the  question  be  answered,  in 
the  language  of  Dr.  "W.  H.  Brisbane,  a  South  Carolinian,  a 
practical  emancipator,  and  a  tried  friend  of  freedom. 

"  There  were  veterans  in  that  Senate  chamber  whose 
talents  and  learning  and  mighty  genius  had  long  distin- 
guished them  as  giants  in  debate,  and  who  were  recog- 
nized among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  as  the  sages  of 
American  statesmanship.  There  was  Buchanan  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  representative  of  the  key-stone  of  the  arch 
that  sustains  this  united  Republic ;  his  very  personal 
appearance  the  just  index  of  his  capacious  mind,  expressed 
senatorial  dignity.  His  locks  were  silvered  by  more  than 
three  score  years,  the  greater  part  of  which  he  had  spent 
in  the  legislative  councils  of  the  nation.  There  too,  was 
the  Senator  of  the  Empire  State,  the  calm,  the  courteous, 
the  ingenious,  the  logical  reasoner,  Silas  Wright,  the 
leader  of  the  administration  party  in  the  Senate.  There 
was  that  mighty  expounder  of  Constitutional  law,  the 
representative  of  the  old  cradle  of  liberty,  the  renowned 
Webster,  whose  lofty  brow  developed  the  organs  of  a 
mind  that  no  other  man  has  metaphysical  science  enough 
to  analyze. 

Buchanan  and  Wright  were  distinguished  by  that 
talismanic  title,  "  Democrat,"  with  which  they  could  com- 
mand the  ears,  the  heads,  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Web- 
ster bore  that  no  less  potent  title,  made  noble  by  Revolu- 
tionary scenes  and  the  hallowed  name  of  Washington.  He 
was  a  Whig. 

But  no  Whig  was  there  to  defend  the  principles  for 
which  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  risked  their  lives, 
their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor,  and  in  the 
faith  of  which  they  breathed  their  last  prayer  for  their 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS,  111 

country.  Nor  was  it  the  Democratic  sage,  Buchanan  j 
nor  was  it  Silas  Wright,  the  premier  of  the  Democratic 
government,  whose  voice  was  then  heard  reverberating 
through  that  chamber  and  its  galleries,  denouncing  that 
accursed  sentiment,  that  whatever  the  law  makes  property 
is  property,  though  it  be  the  bones,  and  sinews,  and  blood, 
and  souls  of  men.  Alas !  when  the  illustrious  western 
orator  uttered  this  ignoble  thought,  and,  Lucifer-like,  fell 
from  his  empyrean  hights,  where  he  had  shone  a  bril- 
liant star  among  the  brightest  constellations  of  South 
American  and  Grecian  memory,  even  in  this  debasement 
of  himself,  Northern  statesmen  "  prostrate  fell  before  him 
reverent."  And  the  great  Webster  himself  worshiped 
in  silent  meditation  the  master  spirits  of  that  Senate 
House,  the  proud  Kentuckian  and  haughty  Carolinian,  as 
they  grasped  hands  over  the  body  of  the  prostrate  slave. 
All,  all,  did  obeisance,  except  one,  whom  neither  the 
orator's  silvery  voice  could  charm  nor  his  thunders  intim- 
idate. That  one  was  Ohio's  Senator.  He  dared  to  speak 
while  tyrant  Senators  frowned  upon  him. 

Read  that  speech,  and  you  know  Thomas  Morris.  His 
life,  his  soul,  is  embodied  in  it.  There  is  his  modesty,  and 
there  is  his  boldness.  There  is  his  generosity  and  there 
is  his  faithfulness.  There  is  his  uncompromising  adher- 
ence to  principle,  his  love  of  truth,  his  hatred  of  slavery, 
his  devotion  to  Liberty.  There  is  his  mental  power,  his 
eagle  vision,  his  patriotic  ardor,  his  philanthropic  heart; 

*  The  firm  patriot  there, 
Who  made  the  welfare  of  mankind  his  care.' " 

SPEECH  OF  SENATOR  MORRIS. 

MR.  PRESIDENT — I  rise  to  present  for  the  consideration 
of  the  Senate,  numerous  petitions  signed  by,  not  only 
citizens  of  my  own  State,  but  citizens  of  several  other 
States — New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Illinois,  and 
Indiana.  These  petitioners,  amounting  in  number  to 


112  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

several  thousand,  have  thought  proper  to  make  me  their 
organ,  in  communicating  to  Congress  their  opinions  and 
wishes  on  subjects  which,  to  them,  appear  of  the  highest 
importance.  These  petitions,  Sir,  are  on  the  subject  of 
slavery ;  the  slave-trade  as  carried  on  within  and  from 
this  District ;  the  slave-trade  between  the  different  States 
of  this  Confederacy ;  between  this  country  and  Texas,  and 
against  the  admission  of  that  country  into  the  Union ;  and 
also  against  that  of  any  other  State,  whose  Constitution 
and  laws  recognize  or  permit  slavery.  I  take  this  oppor- 
tunity to  present  all  these  petitions  together,  having 
detained  some  of  them  for  a  considerable  time  in  my 
hands,  in  order  that  as  small  a  portion  of  the  attention  of 
the  Senate  might  be  taken  up  on  their  account,  as  would 
be  consistent  with  a  strict  regard  to  the  rights  of  the 
petitioners.  And  I  now  present  them,  under  the  most 
peculiar  circumstances  that  have  ever,  probably,  transpired 
in  this  or  any  other  country.  I  present  them  on  the  heel 
of  the  petitions  which  have  been  presented  by  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay),  signed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
this  District,  praying  that  Congress  would  not  receive 
petitions  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District,  from 
any  body  of  men  or  citizens,  but  themselves.  This  is 
something  new ;  it  is  one  of  the  devices  of  the  slave 
power,  and  most  extraordinary  in  itself.  These  petitions 
I  am  bound  in  duty  to  present  —  a  duty  which  I  cheer- 
fully perform,  for  I  consider  it  not  only  a  duty  but  an 
honor.  The  respectable  names  which  these  petitions 
bear,  and  being  against  a  practice  which  I  as  deeply 
deprecate  and  deplore  as  they  can  possibly  do,  yet  I  well 
know  the  fate  of  these  petitions ;  and  I  also  know  the 
time,  place,  and  disadvantage  under  which  I  present 
them.  In  availing  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  explain 
my  own  views  on  this  agitating  topic,  and  to  explain  and 
justify  the  character  and  proceedings  of  these  petitioners, 
it  must  be  obvious  to  all  that  I  am  surrounded  with  no 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  113 

ordinary  discouragements.  The  strong  prejudice  which 
is  evinced  by  the  petitioners  of  the  District,  the  unwill- 
ingness of  the  Senate  to  hear,  the  power  which  is  arrayed 
against  me  on  this  occasion,  as  well  as  in  opposition  to 
those  whose  rights  I  am  anxious  to  maintain ;  opposed  by 
the  very  Lions  of  debate  in  this  Body,  who  are  cheered  on 
by  an  applauding  gallery  and  surrounding  interests,  is 
enough  to  produce  dismay  in  one  far  more  able  and  elo- 
quent than  the  lone  and  humble  individual  who  now 
addresses  you. 

What,  Sir,  can  there  be  to  induce  me  to  appear  on  this 
public  arena,  opposed  by  such  powerful  odds  ?  Nothing, 
Sir,  nothing  but  a  strong  sense  of  duty,  and  a  deep  con- 
viction that  the  cause  I  advocate  is  just ;  that  the  peti- 
tioners whom  I  represent  are  honest,  upright,  intelligent 
and  respectable  citizens ;  men  who  love  their  country, 
who  are  anxious  to  promote  its  best  interests,  and  who 
are  actuated  by  the  purest  patriotism,  as  well  as  the  deep- 
est philanthropy  and  benevolence.  In  representing  such 
men,  and  in  such  a  cause,  though  by  the  most  feeble 
means,  one  would  suppose  that,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  order  and  a  decent  respect  to  the 
opinions  of  others,  would  prevail.  From  the  causes 
which  I  have  mentioned,  I  can  hardly  hope  for  this.  I 
expect  to  proceed  through  scenes  which  ill  become  this 
Hall ;  but  nothing  shall  deter  me  from  a  full  and  faithful 
discharge  of  my  duty  on  this  important  occasion.  Per- 
mit me,  Sir,  to  remind  gentlemen  that  I  have  been  now 
six  years  a  member  of  this  Body.  I  have  seldom,  per- 
haps too  seldom,  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  my  constitu- 
ents, pressed  myself  upon  the  notice  of  the  Senate,  and 
taken  up  their  time  in  useless  and  windy  debate.  I  ques  • 
tion  very  much  if  I  have  occupied  the  time  of  the  Senate 
during  the  six  years,  as  some  gentlemen  have  during  six 
weeks,  or  even  six  days.  I  hope  therefore,  that  I  shall 
not  be  thought  obtrusive,  or  charged  with  taking  up  time 
10 


114  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

with  abolition  petitions.  I  hope,  Mr.  Piesident,  to  hear 
no  more  about  agitating  this  slave  question  here.  Who 
has  begun  the  agitation  now?  The  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky (Mr.  Clay).  Who  has  responded  to  that  agitation, 
and  congratulated  the  Senate  and  the  country  on  its 
results?  The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Cal- 
houn).  And  pray,  Sir,  under  what  circumstances  is  this 
agitation  begun?  Let  it  be  remembered,  let  us  collect 
the  facts  from  the  records  on  your  table,  that  when  I,  as 
a  member  of  this  Body,  but  a  few  days  since  offered  a 
resolution  as  the  foundation  of  proceedings  on  these  peti- 
tions, gentlemen,  as  if  operated  on  by  an  electric  shock, 
sprung  from  their  seat  and  objected  to  its  introduction. 
And  when  you,  Sir,  decided  that  it  was  the  right  of  every 
member  to  introduce  such  motion  or  resolution  as  he 
pleased,  being  responsible  to  his  constituents  and  this 
Body  for  the  abuse  of  this  right,  gentlemen  seemed  to 
wonder  that  the  Senate  had  no  power  to  prevent  the 
action  of  one  of  its  members  in  cases  like  this,  and  the 
poor  privilege  of  having  the  resolution  printed,  by  order 
of  the  Senate,  was  denied. 

Let  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  before  me,  remem- 
ber that,  at  the  last  session,  when  he  offered  resolutions  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  they  were  not  only  received  with- 
out objection,  but  printed,  voted  on,  and  decided  ;  and 
let  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  reflect,  that  the  petition 
which  he  offered  against  our  right,  was  also  received  and 
ordered  to  be  printed  without  a  single  dissenting  voice  ; 
and  I  call  on  the  Senate  and  the  country  to  remember, 
that  the  resolutions  which  I  have  offered  on  the  same 
subject,  have  not  only  been  refused  the  printing,  but  have 
been  laid  on  the  table  without  being  debated  or  referred. 
Posterity,  which  shall  read  the  proceedings  of  this  time, 
may  well  wonder  what  power  could  induce  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  to  proceed  in  such  a  strange  and  con- 
tradictory manner.  Permit  me  to  tell  the  country  now 


LIFE   OP   SENATOR   MORRIS.  115 

what  this  power  behind  the  throne,  greater  than  the 
throne  itself,  is.  It  is  the  power  of  SLAVERY.  It  is  a 
power,  according  to  the  calculation  of  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  which  owns  twelve  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
in  human  beings  as  property;  and  if  money  is  power, 
this  power  is  not  to  be  conceived  or  calculated  ;  a  power 
which  claims  human  property  more  than  double  the 
amount  which  the  whole  money  of  the  world  could  pur- 
chase. What  can  stand  before  this  power  ?  Truth,  ever- 
lasting truth,  will  yet  overthrow  it.  This  power  is 
aiming  to  govern  the  country,  its  Constitutions  and  laws ; 
but  it  is  not  certain  of  success,  tremendous  as  it  is,  without 
foreign  or  other  aid.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
Bank  power,  some  years  since,  during  what  has  been 
called  the  panic  session,  had  influence  sufficient  in  this 
body,  and  upon  this  floor,  to  prevent  the  reception  of 
petitions  against  the  action  of  the  Senate  on  their  resolu- 
tions of  censure  against  the  President.  The  country  took 
instant  alarm,  and  the  political  complexion  of  this  body 
was  changed  as  soon  as  possible.  The  same  power  though 
double  in  means  and  in  strength,  is  now  doing  the  same 
thing.  This  is  the  array  of  power  that  is  even  now 
attempting  such  an  unwarrantable  course  in  this  country ; 
and  the  people  are  also  now  moving  against  the  Slave,  as 
they  formerly  did  against  the  Bank  power.  It,  too,  begins 
to  tremble  for  its  safety.  What  is  to  be  done  ?  Why, 
petitions  are  received  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  against 
the  right  of  petitions  which  are  not  received,  and  the 
whole  power  of  debate  is  thrown  into  the  scale  with  the 
slave-holding  power.  But  all  will  not  do ;  these  two 
powers  must  now  be  united :  an  amalgamation  of  the  black 
power  of  the  South  with  the  white  power  of  the  North 
must  take  place,  as  either,  separately,  can  not  succeed  in 
the  destruction  of  the  liberty  of  speech  and  the  press,  and 
the  right  of  petition.  Let  me  tell  gentlemen,  that  both 


116  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

united  will  never  succeed  ;  as  I  said  on  a  former  day,  G-od 
forbid  that  they  should  ever  rule  this  country  !  I  have 
seen  this  billing  and  cooing  between  these  different  inter- 
ests for  some  time  past ;  I  informed  my  private  friends 
of  the  political  party  with  which  I  have  heretofore  acted, 
during  the  first  week  of  this  session,  that  these  powers 
were  forming  a  union  to  overthrow  the  present  adminis- 
tration; and  I  warned  them  of  the  folly  and  mischief 
they  were  doing  in  their  abuse  of  those  who  were  opposed 
to  slavery.  All  doubts  are  now  terminated.  The  display 
made  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  (Mr.  Clay,)  and  his 
denunciations  of  these  petitioners  as  abolitionists,  and  the 
hearty  response  and  'cordial  embrace  which  his  efforts 
met  from  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun,) 
clearly  shows  that  new  moves  have  taken  place  on  the 
political  chessboard,  and  new  coalitions  are  formed,  new 
compromises  and  new  bargains,  settling  and  disposing  of 
the  rights  of  the  country  for  the  advantage  of  political 
aspirants. 

The  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun,) 
seemed,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  argument  made  by  the 
Senator  from  Kentucky,  to  be  filled  not  only  with  delight 
but  with  ecstasy.  He  told  us,  that  about  twelve  months 
since  HE  had  offered  a  resolution  which  turned  the  tide 
in  favor  of  the  great  principle  of  State  rights,  and  says  he 
is  highly  pleased  with  the  course  taken  by  the  Kentucky 
Senator.  All  is  now  safe  by  the  acts  of  that  Senator.  The 
South  is  now  consolidated  as  one  man ;  it  was  a  great 
epoch  in  our  history,  but  we  have  now  passed  it ;  it  is  the 
beginning  of  a  moral  revolution ;  slavery,  so  far  from 
being  a  political  evil,  is  a  great  blessing ;  both  races  have 
been  improved  by  it ;  and  that  abolition  is  now  DEAD,  and 
will  soon  be  forgotten.  So  far  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina,  as  I  understood  him. 

' 

But,  sir,  is  this  really  the  case  ?    Is  the  South  united 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  117 

as  one  man,  and  is  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  the  great 
center  of  attraction  ?  What  a  lesson  to  the  friends  of  the 
present  Administration,  who  have  been  throwing  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  the  Southern  slave-power  for 
support !  The  black  enchantment  I  hope  is  now  at  an 
end — the  dream  dissolved,  and  we  awake  into  open  day. 
No  longer  is  there  any  uncertainty  or  any  doubt  on  this 
subject.  But  is  the  great  epoch  passed  ?  Is  it  not  rather 
just  beginning?  Is  abolitionism  DEAD  —  or  is  it  just 
awaking  into  life  ?  Is  the  right  of  petition  strangled  and 
forgotten  —  or  is  it  increasing  in  strength  and  force? 
These  are  serious  questions  for  the  gentleman's  consider- 
ation, that  may  damp  the  ardor  of  "his  joy,  if  examined 
with  an  impartial  mind,  and  looked  at  with  an  unpreju- 
diced eye.  Sir,  when  these  paeans  were  sung  over  the 
death  of  abolitionists,  and,  of  course,  their  right  to  liberty 
of  speech  and  the  press— -  at  least  in  fancy's  eye,  we  might 
have  seen  them  lying  in  heaps  upon  heaps,  like  the  ene- 
mies of  the  strong  man  in  days  of  old.  But  let  me  bring 
back  the  gentleman's  mind  from  this  delightful  scene  of 
abolition  death,  to  sober  realities  and  solemn  facts.  I 
have  now  lying  before  me  the  names  of  thousands  of  living 
witnesses,  that  slavery  has  not  entirely  conquered  liberty ; 
that  abolitionists  (for  so  are  all  these  petitioners  called,) 
are  not  all  dead.  These  are  my  first  proofs  to  show  the 
gentleman  his  ideas  are  all  fancy.  I  have  also,  sir,  since 
the  commencement  of  this  debate,  received  a  newspaper, 
as  if  sent  by  Providence  to  suit  the  occasion,  and  by  whom 
I  know  not.  It  is  the  Cincinnati  Eepublican  of  the  2d 
instant,  which  contains  an  extract  from  the  Louisville 
Advertiser,  a  paper  printed  in  Kentucky,  in  Louisville, 
our  sister  city  ;  and  though  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  below  us,  it  is  but  a  few  hours  distant.  That  paper 
is  the  leading  Administration  journal  too,  as  I  am 
informed,  in  Kentucky.  Hear  what  it  says  on  the  death 
of  abolition  :— 


118  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


"  ABOLITION -CINCINNATI -THE  LOUISVILLE  ADVERTISER. 

"  We  copy  the  following  notice  of  an  article  which  wo 
lately  published,  upon  the  subject  of  abolition  movements 
in  this  quarter,  from  the  Louisville  Advertiser  :  — 

'  ABOLITION.  —  The  reader  is  referred  to  an  interesting 
article  which  we  have  copied  from  the  Cincinnati  Republi- 
can —  a  paper  which  lately  supported  the  principles  ot 
Democracy  ;  a  paper  which  has  turned,  but  not  quite  far 
enough  to  act  with  the  Adamses  and  Slades  in  Congress, 
or  the  Whig  abolitionists  of  Ohio.  It  does  not,  however, 
give  a  correct  view  of  the  strength  of  the  abolitionists  in 
Cincinnati.  There  they  are  in  the  ascendant.  They  con- 
trol the  city  elections,  regulate  what  may  be  termed  the 
morals  of  the  city,  give  tone  to  public  opinion,  and  "  rule 
the  roost,"  by  virtue  of  their  superior  piety  and  intelligence. 
The  Republican  tells  us,  that  they  are  not  laboring  Loco 
Focos  —  but  "  drones  "  and  "  consumers  " — the  "  rich  and 
well-born,"  of  course;  men  who  have  leisure  and  means, 
and  a  disposition  to  employ  the  latter,  to  equalize  whites 
and  blacks  in  the  slaveholding  States.  Even  now,  the 
absconding  slave  is  perfectly  safe  in  Cincinnati.  We 
doubt  whether  an  instance  can  be  adduced  of  the  recovery 
of  a  runaway  in  that  place  in  the  last  four  years.  When 
negroes  reach  "  the  Queen  city  "  they  are  protected  by 
its  intelligence,  its  piety,  and  its  wealth.  They  receive 
the  aid  of  the  elite  of  the  Buckeyes ;  and  we  have  a 
strong  faction  in  Kentucky,  struggling  zealously  to  make 
her  one  of  the  dependencies  of  Cincinnati !  Let  our 
mutual  sons  go  on.  The  day  of  mutual  retribution  is  at 
hand — much  nearer  than  is  now  imagined.  The  Repub- 
lican, which  still  looks  with  a  friendly  eye  to  the  slave- 
holding  States,  warns  us  of  the  danger  which  exists, 
although  its  new-born  zeal  for  Whiggery  prompts  it  to 
insist,  indirectly,  on  the  right  of  petitioning  Congress  to 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MOKRIS.  119 

abolish  slavery.  There  are  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
abolition  societies  in  Ohio  at  the  present  time,  and,  from 
the  circular  issued  from  head  quarters,  Cincinnati,  it 
appears  that  agents  are  to  be  sent  through  every  county 
to  distribute  books  and  pamphlets  designed  to  inflame  the 
public  mind,  and  then  organize  additional  societies  —  or, 
rather,  form  new  clans,  to  aid  in  the  war  which  has  been 
commenced  on  the  slaveholding  States.'  " 

I  do  not,  sir,  underwrite  for  the  truth  of  this  statement 
as  an  entire  whole ;  much  of  it  I  repel  as  an  unjust  charge 
on  my  fellow-citizens  of  Cincinnati ;  but,  as  it  comes 
from  a  slaveholding  State  —  from  the  State  of  the  Senator 
who  has  so  eloquently  anathematized  abolitionists  that  it 
is  almost  a  pity  they  could  not  die  under  such  sweet 
sounds — and  as  the  South  Carolina  Senator  pronounces 
them  dead,  1  produce  this  from  a  slaveholding  State,  for 
the  special  benefit  and  consolation  of  the  two  Senators.  It 
comes  from  a  source  to  which,  I  am  sure,  both  gentlemen 
ought  to  give  credit.  But  suppose,  sir,  abolitionism  is 
dead,  is  liberty  dead  also  and  slavery  triumphant  ?  Is 
liberty  of  speech,  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition 
also  dead  ?  True,  it  has  been  strangled  here  ;  but  gentle- 
men will  find  themselves  in  great  error  if  they  suppose  it 
is  also  strangled  in  the  country  ;  and  the  very  attempt  in 
legslative  bodies,  to  sustain  a  local  and  individual  inter- 
est, to  the  destruction  of  our  rights,  proves  that  those 
rights  are  not  dead,  but  a  living  principle,  which  slavery 
can  not  extinguish  ;  and  be  my  lot  what  it  may,  I  shall,  to 
the  utmost  of  my  abilities,  under  all  circumstances,  and 
at  all  times,  contend  for  that  freedom  which  is  the  com- 
mon gift  of  the  Creator  to  all  men,  and  against  the  power 
of  these  two  great  interests  —  the  slave  power  of  the 
South,  and  banking  power  of  the  North  —  which  are  now 
uniting  to  rule  this  country.  The  cotton  bale  and  the 
bank  note  have  formed  an  alliance  ;  the  credit  system 
with  slave  labor.  These  two  congenial  spirits  have  at 


120  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

last  met  and  embraced  each  other,  both  looking  at  the 
same  object  —  to  live  upon  the  unrequited  labor  of  others, 
and  have  now  erected  for  themselved  a  common  plat- 
form, as  was  intimated  during  the  last  session,  on  which 
they  can  meet,  and  bid  defiance,  as  they  hope,  to  free 
principles  and  free  labor. 

"With  these  introductory  remarks,  permit  me,  Sir,  to 
say  here,  and  let  no  one  pretend  to  misunderstand  or 
misrepresent  me,  that  I  charge  gentlemen,  when  they  use 
the  word  abolitionists,  they  mean  petitioners  here  such  as 
I  now  represent — men  who  love  liberty  and  are  opposed 
to  slavery — that  in  behalf  of  these  citizens  I  speak ;  and, 
by  whatever  name  they  may  be  called,  it  is  those  who 
are  opposed  to  slavery  whose  cause  I  advocate.  I  make 
no  war  upon  the  rights  of  others.  I  do  no  act  but  what 
is  moral,  Constitutional  and  legal,  against  the  peculiar 
institutions  of  any  State ;  but  acts  only  in  defense  of  my 
own  rights,  of  my  fellow  citizens,  and,  above  all,  of  my 
State,  I  shall  not  cease  while  the  current  of  life  shall  con- 
tinue to  flow. 

I  shall,  Mr.  President,  in  the  further  consideration  of 
this  subject,  endeavor  to  prove,  first,  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple to  petition ;  second,  why  slavery  is  wrong,  and  why  I 
am  opposed  to  it;  third,  the  power  of  slavery  in  this 
country,  and  its  dangers;  next,  answer  the  question,  so 
often  asked,  what  have  the  free  States  to  do  with  slavery? 
Then  make  some  remarks  by  way  of  answer  to  the  argu- 
ments of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay). 

Mr.  President — The  duty  I  am  requested  to  perform  is 
one  of  the  highest  which  a  Representative  can  be  called 
on  to  discharge.  It  is  to  make  known  to  the  legislative 
body  the  will  and  the  wishes  of  his  constituents  and  fellow- 
citizens  ;  and,  in  the  present  case,  I  feel  honored  by  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me,  and  proceed  to  discharge  the 
duty.  The  petitioners  have  not  trusted  to  my  fallible 
judgment  alone,  but  have  declared,  in  written  documents, 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  121 

the  most  solemn  expression  of  their  will.  It  is  true,  these 
petitions  have  not  been  sent  here  by  the  whole  people  of 
the  United  States,  but  from  a  portion  of  them  only;  yet 
such  is  the  justice  of  their  claim,  and  the  sure  foundation 
upon  which  it  rests,  that  no  portion  of  the  American 
people,  until  a  day  or  two  past,  have  thought  it  either  safe 
or  expedient  to  present  counter  petitions ;  and  even  now, 
when  counter  petitions  have  been  presented,  they  dare 
not  justify  slavery,  and  the  selling  of  men  and  women  in 
this  District,  but  content  themselves  with  objecting  to 
others  enjoying  the  rights  they  practice,  and  praying 
Congress  not  to  receive  or  hear  petitions  from  the  people 
of  the  States — a  new  device  of  the  slave  power  this,  never 
before  thought  of  or  practiced  in  any  country.  I  would 
have  been  gratified  if  the  inventors  of  this  system,  which 
denies  to  others  what  they  practice  themselves,  had,  in 
their  petition,  attempted  to  justify  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District,  if  they  believe  their  practice  just, 
that  their  names  might  have  gone  down  to  posterity. 
No,  Sir ;  very  few  yet  have  the  moral  courage  to  record 
their  names  to  such  an  avowal ;  and  even  some  of  these 
petitioners  are  so  squeamish  on  this  subject,  as  to  say  that 
they  might,  from  conscientious  principles,  be  prevented 
from  holding  slaves.  Not  so,  Sir,  with  the  petitioners 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent ;  they  are  anxious 
that  their  sentiments  and  their  names  should  be  made 
matter  of  record ;  they  have  no  qualms  of  conscience  on 
this  subject ;  they  have  deep  convictions  and  a  firm  belief 
that  slavery  is  an  existing  evil,  incompatible  with  the 
principles  of  political  liberty,  at  war  with  our  system  of 
government,  and  extending  a  baleful  and  blasting  influ- 
ence over  our  country,  withering  and  blighting  its  fairest 
prospects  and  brightest  hopes.  Who  has  said  that  these 
petitions  are  unjust  in  principle,  and  on  that  ground  ought 
not  to  be  granted  ?  "Who  has  said  that  slavery  is  not  an 
evil  ?  Who  has  said  it  does  not  tarnish  the  fair  fame  of 
11 


122  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

• 

our  country  ?  Who  has  said  it  does  not  bring  dissipation 
and  feebleness  to  one  race,  and  poverty  and  wretchedness 
to  another,  in  its  train  ?  Who  has  said,  it  is  not  unjust  to 
the  slave,  and  injurious  to  the  happiness  and  "best 
interest  of  the  master  ?  Who  has  said  it  does  not  break 
the  bonds  of  human  affection,  by  separating  the  wife  from 
the  husband,  and  children  from  their  parents  ?  In  fine, 
who  has  said  it  is  not  a  blot  upon  our  country's  honor, 
and  a  deep  and  foul  stain  upon  her  institutions  ?  Few, 
very  few,  perhaps  none  but  him  who  lives  upon  its  labor, 
regardless  of  its  misery ;  and  even  many  whose  local  sit- 
uations are  within  its  jurisdiction,  acknowledge  its  injus- 
tice, and  deprecate  its  continuance ;  while  millions  of 
freemen  deplore  its  existence,  and  look  forward  with 
strong  hope  to  its  final  termination.  SLAVERY  !  a  word, 
like  a  secret  idol,  thought  too  obnoxious  or  sacred  to  be 
pronounced  here  but  by  those  who  worship  at  its  shrine — 
and  should  one  who  is  not  such  a  worshiper  happen  to 
pronounce  the  word,  the  most  disastrous  consequences 
are  immediately  predicted,  the  Union  is  to  be  dissolved, 
and  the  South  to  take  care  of  itself. 

Do  not  suppose,  Mr.  President,  that  I  feel  as  if  engaged 
in  a  forbidden  or  improvident  act.  No  such  thing.  I  am 
contending  with  a  local  and  "peculiar"  interest,  an  interest 
which  has  already  banded  together  with  a  force  sufficient  to 
seize  upon  every  avenue  by  which  a  petition  can  enter  this 
chamber,  and  exclude  all  without  its  leave.  I  am  not  now 
contending  for  the  rights  of  the  negro,  rights  which  his 
Creator  gave  him  and  which  his  fellow-man  has  usurped 
or  taken  away.  No,  sir  !  I  am  contending  for  the  rights 
of  the  white  person  in  the  free  States,  and  am  endeavor- 
ing to  prevent  them  from  being  trodden  down  and 
destroyed,  by  that  power  which  claims  the  black  person  as 
property.  I  am  endeavoring  to  sound  the  alarm  to  my 
fellow-citizens  that  this  power,  tremendous  as  it  is,  is 
endeavoring  to  unite  itself  with  the  monied  power  of  the 


LIFE    Of    SENATOR    MORRI6.  12S 

country,  in  order  to  extend  its  dominion  and  perpetuate 
its  existence.  I  am  endeavoring  to  drive  from  the  back 
of  the  negro  slave,  the  politician  who  has  seated  himself  there 
to  ride  into  office  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the 
object  of  this  unholy  combination. 

The  chains  of  slavery  are  sufficiently  strong,  without 
being  riveted  anew  by  tinkering  politicians  of  the  free 
States.  I  feel  myself  compelled  into  this  contest,  in 
defense  of  the  institutions  of  my  own  State,  the  persons 
and  firesides  of  her  citizens,  from  the  insatiable  grasp  of 
the  slaveholding  power  as  being  used  and  felt  in  the 
free  States.  To  say  that  I  am  opposed  to  slavery  in  the 
abstract,  are  but  cold  and  unmeaning  words ;  if,  however, 
capable  of  any  meaning  whatever,  they  may  be  fairly  con- 
strued into  a  love  for  its  existence ;  and  such  I  sincerely 
believe  to  be  the  feeling  of  many  in  the  free  States  who 
use  the  phrase.  I,  sir,  am  not  only  opposed  to  slavery  in 
the  abstract,  but  also  in  its  whole  volume,  in  its  theory  as 
well  as  its  practice.  This  principle  is  deeply  implanted 
within  me;  it  has  "grown  with  my  growth  and  strength- 
ened with  my  strength."  In  my  infant  years  I  learned  to 
hate  slavery.  Your  fathers  taught  me  it  was  wrong  in 
their  Declaration  of  Independence :  the  doctrines  which 
they  promulgated  to  the  world,  and  upon  the  truth  of 
which  they  staked  the  issue  of  the  contest  that  made  us 
a  nation.  They  proclaimed  "  that  all  men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights ;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  These  truths  are  solemnly 
declared  by  them.  I  believed  then,  and  believe  now,  they 
are  self-evident.  Who  can  acknowledge  this,  and  not  be 
opposed  to  slavery  ?  It  is,  then,  because  I  love  the  prin- 
ciples which  brought  your  Government  into  existence, 
and  which  have  become  the  corner-stone  of  the  building 
supporting  you,  sir,  in  that  chair,  and  giving  to  myself 
and  other  Senators  seats  in  this  body  —  it  is  because  I 


124  LIFE     OP    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

love  all  this,  that  I  hate  slavery.  Is  it  because  I  contend 
for  the  right  of  petition,  and  am  opposed  to  slavery,  that 
I  have  been  denounced  by  many  as  an  abolitionist  ?  Yes ; 
Virginia  newspapers  have  so  denounced  me,  and  called 
upon  the  Legislature  of  my  own  State  to  dismiss  me  from 
public  confidence.  Who  taught  me  to  hate  slavery  and 
every  other  oppression?  Jefferson,  the  great  and  good 
Jefferson  !  Yes,  Virginia  Senators,  it  was  your  own  Jeffer- 
son, Virginia's  favorite  son,  a  man  who  did  more  for  the 
natural  liberty  of  man,  and  the  civil  liberty  of  his  coun- 
try, than  any  man  that  ever  lived  in  our  country ;  it  was 
him  who  taught  me  to  hate  slavery  ;  it  was  in  his  school 
I  was  brought  up.  That  Mr.  Jefferson  was  as  much 
opposed  to  slavery  as  any  man  that  ever  lived  in  our 
country,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  his  life  and  his  writings 
abundantly  prove  the  fact.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  copy,  as 
he  penned  it,  of  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  a  part  of  which  was  stricken  out,  as  he 
says,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia.  I  will  read  it.  Speaking  of  the  wrongs 
done  us  by  the  British  Government,  in  introducing  slaves 
among  us,  he  says :  "  He  (the  British  King)  has  waged 
cruel  war  against  human  nature  itself,  violating  its  most 
sacred  right  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant 
people,  who  never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carrying 
them  into  SLAVERY  in  another  hemisphere,  or  to  incur 
miserable  death  in  their  transportation  thither.  This 
piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  infidel  Powers,  is  the 
warfare  of  the  Christian  King  of  Great  Britain.  Deter- 
mined to  keep  open  a  market  where  MEN  should  be  BOUGHT 
and  SOLD,  he  has  prostituted  his  prerogative  for  suppress- 
ing every  legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  restrain  exe- 
enable  commerce,  and  that  this  assemblage  of  horrors 
might  want  no  fact  of  distinguished  die,  he  is  now  exciting 
those  very  people  to  rise  in  arms  against  us,  and  purchase 
that  liberty  of  which  he  has  deprived  them  by  murdering 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  125 

the  people  on  whom  he  has  also  obtruded  them,  thus 
paying  off  former  crimes  committed  against  the  liberties 
of  one  people,  with  crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  com- 
mit against  the  lives  of  another."  Thus  far  this  great 
statesman  and  philanthropist.  Had  his  cotemporaries 
been  ruled  by  his  opinions,  the  country  had  now  been  at 
rest  on  this  exciting  topic.  "What  abolitionist,  sir,  has 
used  stronger  language  against  slavery  than  Mr.  Jefferson 
has  done  ?  "  Cruel  war  against  human  nature,"  "  violat- 
ing its  most  sacred  rights,"  "  piratical  warfare,"  "  oppro- 
brium of  infidel  Powers,"  "  a  market  where  men  should  be 
bought  and  sold,"  "execrable  commerce,"  "assemblage  of 
horrors,"  "crimes  committed  against  the  liberty  of  the 
people,"  are  the  brands  which  Mr.  Jefferson  has  burned 
into  the  forehead  of  slavery  and  the  slave  trade. 

When  sir,  have  I,  or  any  other  person  opposed  to 
slavery,  spoken  in  stronger  and  more  opprobrious  terms 
of  slavery,  than  this  ?  You  have  caused  the  bust  of  this 
great  man  to  be  placed  in  the  center  of  your  Capitol,  in  that 
conspicuous  part  where  every  visitor  must  see  it,  with  its 
hand  resting  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  engraved 
upon  marble.  Why  have  you  done  this  ?  Is  it  not  mockery  ? 
Or  is  it  to  remind  us  continually  of  the  wickedness  and 
danger  of  slavery  ?  I  never  pass  that  statue  without  new 
and  increased  veneration  for  the  man  it  represents,  and 
increased  repugnance  and  sorrow  that  he  did  not  succeed 
in  driving  slavery  entirely  from  the  country.  Sir,  if  I 
am  an  Abolitionist,  Jefferson  made  me  so ;  and  I  only 
regret  that  the  disciple  should  be  so  far  behind  the  master, 
both  in  doctrine  and  practice.  But,  sir,  other  reasons 
and  other  causes  have  combined  to  fix  and  establish  my 
principles  in  this  matter,  never,  I  trust  to  be  shaken.  A 
free  State  was  the  place  of  my  birth  ;  a  free  Territory  the 
theater  of  my  juvenile  actions.  Ohio  is  my  country,  en- 
deared to  me  by  every  fond  recollection.  She  gave  me 
political  existence,  and  taught  me  in  her  political  school ; 


126  LIFE     0V    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

and  1  should  be  worse  than  an  unnatural  son  did  I  forget 
or  disobey  her  precepts.  In  her  Constitution  it  is  declared, 
"  That  all  men  are  born  equally  free  and  independent," 
and  "  that  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  in  the  State,  otherwise  than  for  the  punishment 
of  crimes."  Shall  I  stand  up  for  slavery  in  any  case,  con- 
demned as  it  is  by  such  high  authority  as  this  ?  No, 
never  I  But  this  is  not  all,  Indiana,  our  younger  "Western 
sister,  endeared  to  us  by  every  social  and  political  tie,  a 
State  formed  in  the  same  country  as  Ohio,  from  whose  ter- 
ritory slavery  was  forever  excluded  by  the  ordinance  of 
July,  1787  —  she  too,  has  declared  her  abhorrence  of 
slavery  in  more  strong  and  emphatic  terms  than  we  have 
done.  In  her  Constitution,  after  prohibiting  slavery,  or 
involuntary  servitude,  being  introduced  into  the  State, 
•he  declares,  "  kut  as  the  holding  any  part  of  the 
human  creation  in  slavery,  or  involuntary  servitude,  can 
originate  only  in  tyranny  and  usurpation — no  alteration  of 
her  Constitution  should  ever  take  place,  so  as  to  introduce 
slavery  or  involuntary  servitude  into  the  State,  otherwise 
than  for  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  had 
been  duly  convicted."  Illinois  and  Michigan  also  formed 
their  Constitutions  on  the  same  principles.  After  such  a 
cloud  of  witnesses  against  slavery,  and  whose  testimony 
is  so  clear  and  explicit,  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  I  should  be 
recreant  to  every  principle  of  honor  and  of  justice,  to  be 
found  the  apologist  or  advocate  of  Slavery  in  any  State, 
or  in  any  country  whatever.  No,  I  can  not  be  so  incon- 
sistent as  to  say  I  am  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract, 
in  its  separation  from  a  human  being,  and  still  lend  my 
aid  to  build  it  up,  and  make  it  perpetual  in  its  operation 
and  effects  upon  man  in  this  or  any  other  country.  I 
also,  in  early  life,  saw  a  slave  kneel  before  his  master,  and 
hold  up  his  hands  with  as  much  apparent  submission, 
humility,  and  adoration,  as  a  man  would  have  done  before 
his  Maker,  while  his  master  with  outstretched  rod  stood 


LIFE   OF   SENATOR  MORRIS.  127 

over  him.  This,  I  thought,  is  slavery ;  one  man  subjected 
to  the  will  and  power  of  another,  and  the  laws  affording  him 
no  protection,  and  he  has  to  beg  pardon  of  man,  because 
he  has  offended  man,  (not  the  laws,)  as  if  his  master  were 
a  superior  all  powerful  being.  Yes,  this  is  slavery, 
boasted  American  Slavery,  without  which,  it  is  contended 
even  here,  the  union  of  these  States  would  be  dis- 
solved in  a  day,  yes,  even  in  an  hour !  Humiliating 
thought,  that  we  are  bound  together  as  States  by  the 
chains  of  slavery  !  It  can  not  be — the  blood  and  the  tears 
of  slavery  form  no  part  of  the  cement  of  our  Union — and 
it  is  hoped  that  by  falling  on  its  bands  they  may  never 
corrode  nor  eat  them  asunder.  We  who  .are  opposed  to 
and  deplore  the  existence  of  slavery  in  our  country,  are 
frequently  asked,  both  in  public  and  private,  what  have 
you  to  do  with  slavery  ?  It  does  not  exist  in  your  State  ; 
it  does  not  disturb  you  I  Ah,  sir,  would  to  God  it  were 
so — that  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  slavery,  nothing  to 
fear  from  its  power,  or  its  action  within  our  own  borders — 
that  its  name  and  its  miseries  were  unknown  to  us.  But 
this  is  not  our  lot ;  we  live  upon  its  borders,  and  in  hear- 
ing of  its  cries ;  yet  we  are  unwilling  to  acknowledge,  that 
if  we  enter  its  territories  and  violate  its  laws,  that  we 
should  be  punished  at  its  pleasure.  "We  do  not  complain 
of  this,  though  it  might  well  be  considered  just  ground  of 
complaint.  It  is  our  firesides,  our  rights,  our  privileges, 
the  safety  of  our  friends,  as  well  as  the  sovereignty  and 
independence  of  our  State,  that  we  are  now  called  upon 
to  protect  and  defend.  The  slave  interest  has  at  this 
moment  the  whole  power  of  the  country  in  its  hands.  It 
claims  the  President  as  a  Northern  man  with  Southern 
feelings,  thus  making  the  Chief  Magistrate  the  head  of  an 
interest,  or  a  party,  and  not  of  the  country  and  the  people 
at  large.  It  has  the  cabinet  of  the  President,  three  mem- 
bers of  which  are  from  the  slave  States,  and  one  who 
wrote  a  book  in  favor  of  Southern  slavery,  but  which  fell 


128  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

dead  from  the  press,  a  book  which  I  have  seen,  in  my 
own  family,  thrown  musty  upon  the  shelf.  Here  then  is 
a  decided  majority  in  favor  of  the  slave  interest.  It  has 
five  out  of  nine  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  here,  also, 
is  a  majority  from  the  slave  States.  It  has,  with  the 
President  of  the  Senate,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  and  the  Clerks  of  both  Houses,  the  army 
and  the  navy ;  and  the  bureaus,  have,  I  am  told,  about 
the  same  proportion. 

One  would  suppose  that,  with  all  this  power  operating 
in  this  Government,  it  would  be  content  to  permit  —  yes,  I 
will  use  the  word  permit  —  it  would  be  content  to  permit 
us,  who  live  in  the  free  States,  to  enjoy  our  firesides  and 
our  homes  in  quietness ;  but  this  is  not  the  case.  The 
slaveholders  and  slave  laws  claim  that  as  property,  which 
the  free  States  know  only  as  persons,  a  reasoning  prop- 
erty, which,  of  its  own  will  and  mere  motion,  is  fre- 
quently found  in  our  States ;  and  upon  which  THING  we 
sometimes  bestow  food  and  raiment,  if  it  appear  hungry 
and  perishing,  believing  it  to  be  a  human  being ;  this 
perhaps  is  owing  to  our  want  of  vision  to  discover  the 
process  by  which  a  man  is  converted  into  a  THING.  For 
this  act  of  ours,  which  is  not  prohibited  by  our  laws,  but 
prompted  by  every  feeling,  Christian  and  humane,  the 
slaveholding  power  enters  our  territory,  tramples  under 
foot  the  sovereignty  of  our  State,  violates  the  sanctity  of 
private  residence,  seizes  our  citizens,  and  disregarding 
the  authority  of  our  laws,  transports  them  into  its  own 
jurisdiction,  casts  them  into  prison,  confines  them  in  fet- 
ters, and  loads  them  with  chains,  for  pretended  offenses 
against  their  own  laws,  found  by  willing  grand  juries 
upon  the  oath,  (to  use  the  language  of  the  late  Governor 
of  Ohio),  of  a  perjured  villain.  Is  this  fancy,  or  is  it  fact, 
sober  reality,  solemn  fact?  Need  I  say  all  this,  and  much 
more,  is  now  matter  of  history  in  the  case  of  the  Rev. 
John  B.  Mahan,  of  Brown  county,  Ohio  ?  Yes,  it  is  so ; 


LIFE   OP   SENATOR   MORRIS.  129 

but  this  is  but  the  beginning  —  a  case  of  equal  outrage 
has  lately  occurred,  if  newspapers  are  to  be  relied  on,  in 
the  seizure  of  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  without  even  the  forms 
of  law,  and  who  was  carried  into  Virginia  and  shame- 
fully punished  by  tar  and  feathers,  and  other  disgraceful 
means,  and  rode  upon  a  rail,  according  to  the  order  of 
Judge  Lynch,  and  this,  only  because  in  Ohio  he  was  an 
abolitionist.  Would  I  could  stop  here  —  but  I  can  not. 
This  slave  interest  or  power  seizes  upon  persons  of  color 
in  our  States,  carries  them  into  States  where  men  are 
property,  and  makes  merchandize  of  them,  sometimes 
under  sanction  of  law,  but  more  properly  by  its  abuse, 
and  sometimes  by  mere  personal  force,  thus  disturbing 
our  quiet  and  harassing  our  citizens.  A  case  of  this  kind 
has  lately  occurred,  where  a  colored  boy  was  seduced 
from  Ohio  into  Indiana,  taken  from  thence  into  Alabama, 
and  sold  as  a  slave ;  and  to  the  honor  of  the  slave  States, 
and  gentlemen  who  administer  the  laws  there,  be  it  said, 
that  many  who  have  thus  been  taken  and  sold  by  the  con- 
nivance, if  not  downright  corruption,  of  citizens  in  the 
free  States,  have  been  liberated  and  adjudged  free  in  the 
States  where  they  have  been  sold,  as  was  the  case  of  the 
boy  mentioned  who  was  sold  in  Alabama. 

Slave  power  is  seeking  to  establish  itself  in  every  State, 
in  defiance  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  States 

• 

within  which  it  is  prohibited.  In  order  to  secure  its 
power  beyond  the  reach  of  the  States,  it  claims  its  paren- 
tage from  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It 
demands  of  us  total  silence  as  to  its  proceedings,  denies 
to  our  citizens  the  liberty  of  speech  and  the  press,  and 
punishes  them  by  mobs  and  violence  for  the  exercise  of 
these  rights.  It  has  sent  its  agents  into  the  free  States 
for  the  purpose  of  influencing  their  Legislatures  to  pass 
laws  for  the  security  of  its  power  within  such  States,  and 
for  the  enacting  new  offenses  and  new  punishments  for 


130  LIFE     OF     SBNATOR     MORRIS. 

their  own  citizens,  so  as  to  give  additional  security  to  its 
interest.  It  demands  to  be  heard  in  its  own  person  in 
the  hall  of  our  Legislature,  and  mingle  in  debate  there. 
Sir,  in  every  stage  of  these  oppressions  and  abuses,  per- 
mit me  to  say,  in  the  language  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  —  and  no  language  could  be  more  appro- 
priate—  we  have  petitioned  for  redress  in  the  most  hum- 
ble terms,  and  our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered 
by  repeated  injury.  A  power,  whose  character  is  marked 
by  every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to  rule 
over  a  free  people.  In  our  sufferings  and  our  wrongs  we 
have  besought  our  fellow-citizens  to  aid  us  in  the  preser- 
vation of  our  Constitutional  rights;  but,  influenced  by  the 
love  of  gain  or  arbitrary  power,  they  have  sometimes  dis- 
regarded all  the  sacred  rights  of  man,  and  answered  in 
violence,  burnings  and  murder.  After  all  these  transac- 
tions, which  are  now  of  public  notoriety  and  matter  of 
record,  shall  we  of  the  free  States  tauntingly  be  asked 
what  we  have  to  do  with  slavery  ?  We  should  rejoice, 
indeed,  if  the  evils  of  slavery  were  removed  far  from  us, 
that  it  could  be  said  with  truth,  that  we  have  nothing  to 
do  with  slavery.  Our  citizens  have  not  entered  its  terri- 
tories for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  its  laws,  nor  do  we 
wish  to  do  so,  nor  would  we  justify  any  individual  in  such 
act ;  yet  we  have  been  branded  and  stigmatized  by  its 
friends  and  advocates,  both  in  the  free  and  slave  States, 
as  incendiaries,  fanatics,  disorganizes,  enemies  to  our 
country,  and  as  wishing  to  dissolve  the  Union.  We  have 
borne  all  this  without  complaint  or  resistance,  and  only 
ask  to  be  secure  in  our  persons,  by  our  own  firesides,  and 
in  the  free  exercise  of  our  own  thoughts  and  opinions  in 
speaking,  writing,  printing  and  publishing  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  that  which  appears  to  us  to  be  just  and  right ; 
because  we  all  know  the  power  of  truth,  and  that  it  will 
ultimately  prevail,  in  despite  of  all  opposition.  But  in 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

the  exercise  of  all  these  rights,  we  acknowledge  subjection 
to  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  we  are,  and  our  liability 
for  their  abuse. 

We  wish  peace  with  all  men  ;  and  that  the  most  ami- 
cable relations  and  free  intercourse  may  exist  between 
the  citizens  of  our  State  and  our  neighboring  slaveholding 
States ;  we  will  not  enter  their  States,  either  in  our 
proper  persons,  or  by  commissioners,  legislative  resolu- 
tions, or  otherwise,  to  interfere  with  their  slave  policy  or 
slave  laws ;  and  we  shall  expect  from  them  and  their  citi- 
zens a  like  return,  that  they  do  not  enter  our  territories 
for  the  purpose  of  violating  our  laws  in  the  punishment 
of  our  people  for  the  exercise  of  their  undoubted  rights  : 
the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  We  ask  that  no  man  shall  be  seized  and  trans- 
ported beyond  our  State,  in  violation  of  our  own  laws, 
and  that  we  shall  not  be  carried  into  and  imprisoned  in 
another  State  for  acts  done  in  our  own.  We  contend 
that  the  slaveholding  power  is  properly  chargeable  with 
all  the  riots  and  disorders  which  take  place  on  account  of 
slavery.  We  can  live  in  peace  with  all  our  sister  States,  if 
that  power  will  be  controlled  by  law,  each  can  exercise 
and  enjoy  the  full  benefits  secured  by  their  own  laws ; 
and  this  is  all  we  ask.  If  we  hold  up  slavery  to  the  view 
of  an  impartial  public  as  it  is,  and  if  such  view  create 
astonishment  and  indignation,  surely  we  are  not  to  be 
charged  as  libelers.  A  State  institution  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered the  pride,  not  the  shame  of  the  State ;  and  if  we 
falsify  such  institutions,  the  disgrace  is  ours,  not  theirs. 
If  slavery,  however,  is  a  blemish,  a  blot,  an  eating  cancer 
in  the  body  politic,  it  is  not  our  fault,  if,  by  holding  it  up, 
others  should  see  in  the  mirror  of  truth  its  deformity,  and 
shrink  back  from  the  view. 

We  have  not,  and  we  intend  not  to  use  any  weapons 
against  slavery,  but  the  moral  power  of  truth  and  the 
force  of  public  opinion.  If  we  enter  the  slave  States,  and 


132  LIFK    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

tamper  with  the  slave  contrary  to  law,  punish  us  —  we 
deserve  it ;  and  if  a  slaveholder  is  found  in  a  free  State, 
and  is  guilty  of  a  breach  of  the  law  there,  he  also  ought 
to  be  punished. 

These  petitioners  as  far  as  I  understand  them,  disclaim 
all  right  to  enter  a  slave  State  for  the  purpose  of  inter- 
course with  the  slave.  It  is  the  master  whom  they  wish 
to  address ;  and  they  ask  and  ought  to  receive  protection 
from  the  laws,  as  they  are  willing  to  be  judged  by  the 
laws.  "We  invite  the  slaveholder  into  the  arena  of  public 
discussion  in  our  State ;  we  are  willing  to  hear  his  reasons 
and  facts  in  favor  of  slavery,  or  against  abolitionists ; 
we  do  not  fear  his  errors  while  we  are  ourselves  free  to 
combat  them.  The  angry  feelings  which  in  some  degree 
exist  between  the  citizens  of  the  free  and  slaveholding 
States,  on  account  of  slavery,  are,  in  many  cases,  properly 
chargeable  to  those  who  support  and  defend  slavery. 
Attempts  are  almost  daily  making  to  force  the  execution 
of  slave  laws  in  the  free  States ;  at  least,  their  power  and 
principles ;  and  no  term  is  too  reproachful  to  be  applied 
to  those  who  resist  such  acts,  and  contend  for  the  rights 
secured  to  every  man  under  their  own  laws.  "We  are 
often  reminded  that  we  ought  to  take  color  as  evidence 
of  property  in  a  human  being.  "We  do  not  believe  in  such 
evidence,  nor  do  we  believe  that  a  man  can  justly  be  made 
property  by  human  laws.  We  acknowledge,  however, 
that  a  man,  not  a  thing,  may  be  held  to  service  or  labor 
under  the  laws  of  a  State,  and,  if  he  escapes  into  another 
State,  he  ought  to  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party 
to  whom  such  labor  or  service  may  be  due ;  that  this 
delivery  ought  to  be  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  of  the 
State  where  such  person  is  found,  and  not  by  virtue  of 
any  act  of  Congress. 

This  brings  me,  Mr.  President,  to  the  consideration  of 
the  petition  presented  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
and  to  an  examination  of  the  views  he  has  presented  to 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  133 

the  Senate  on  this  highly  important  subject.  Sir,  I  feel, 
I  sensibly  feel  my  inadequacy  in  entering  into  a  contro- 
versy with  that  old  and  veteran  Senator ;  but  nothing 
high  or  low  shall  prevent  me  from  an  honest  discharge  of 
my  duties  here.  If  imperfectly  done,  it  may  be  ascribed 
to  the  want  of  ability,  not  intention.  If  the  power  of  my 
mind,  and  the  strength  of  my  body,  were  equal  to  the 
task,  I  would  arouse  every  man,  yes,  every  woman  and 
child  in  the  country,  to  the  danger  which  besets  them,  if 
such  doctrines  and  views  as  are  presented  by  the  Senator 
should  ever  be  carried  into  effect.  His  denunciations  are 
against  abolitionists,  and  under  that  term  are  classed  all 
those  who  petition  Congress  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 
Such  I  understand  to  be  his  argument,  and  as  such  I 
shall  treat  it.  I,  in  the  first  place,  put  in  a  broad  denial 
to  all  his  general  facts,  charging  this  portion  of  my  fellow 
citizens  with  improper  motives  or  dangerous  designs. 
That  their  acts  are  lawful  he  does  not  pretend  to  deny. 
I  called  for  proof  to  sustain  his  charges.  None  such  has 
been  offered,  and  none  such  exist,  or  can  be  found.  I 
repel  them  as  calumnies  doubly-distilled  in  the  alembic 
of  slavery.  I  deny  them,  also,  in  the  particulars  and 
inferences  ;  and  let  us  see  upon  what  ground  they  rest,  or 
by  what  process  of  reasoning  they  are  sustained. 

The  very  first  view  of  these  petitioners  against  our 
right  of  petition,  strikes  the  mind  that  more  is  intended 
than  at  first  meets  the  eye.  Why  was  the  Committee  on 
the  District  overlooked  in  this  case,  and  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky  made  the  organ  of  communication?  Is  it 
understood  that  anti-abolitionism  is  a  passport  to  popular 
favor,  and  that  the  action  of  this  District  shall  present 
for  that  favor  to  the  public  a  gentleman  upon  this  hobby? 
Is  this  petition  presented  as  a  subject  of  fair  legislation  ? 
Was  it  solicited  by  members  of  Congress,  from  citizens 
here,  for  political  effect  ?  Let  the  country  judge. 

The  petitioners  state  that  no  persons  but  themselves 


134  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

are  authorized  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  District ; 
that  Congress  are  their  own  Legislature ;  and  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  District  is  only  between  them  and 
their  constituted  legislators  ;  and  they  protest  against  all 
interference  of  others.  But,  sir,  as  if  ashamed  of  this 
open  position  in  favor  of  slavery,  they,  in  a  very  coy 
manner,  say  that  some  of  them  are  not  slaveholders,  and 
might  be  forbidden  by  conscience  to  hold  slaves.  There 
is  more  dictation,  more  political  heresy,  more  dangerous 
doctrine  in  this  petition,  than  I  have  ever  before  seen 
couched  together  in  so  many  words.  We !  Congress  their 
OWN  Legislature  in  all  that  concerns  this  District !  Let 
those  who  may  put  on  the  city  livery,  and  legislate  for 
them  and  not  for  their  constituents,  do  so  ;  for  myself,  I 
came  here  with  a  different  view,  and  for  different  purpo- 
ses. I  came  a  free  man,  to  represent  the  people  of  Ohio ; 
and  I  intend  to  leave  this  as  such  representative,  without 
wearing  any  other  livery.  Why  talk  about  executive 
usurpation  and  influence  over  the  members  of  Congress  ? 
I  have  always  viewed  this  District  influence  as  far  more 
dangerous  than  that  of  any  other  power.  It  has  been 
able  to  extort,  yes,  extort  from  Congress,  millions  to  pay 
District  debts,  make  District  improvements,  and  in  sup- 
port of  the  civil  and  criminal  jurisprudence  of  the 
District.  Pray,  sir,  what  right  has  Congress  to  pay  the 
corporate  debts  of  the  cities  in  the  District  more  than  the 
debts  of  the  corporate  cities  in  your  State  and  mine? 
None,  sir.  Yet  this  has  been  done  to  a  vast  amount ;  and 
the  next  step  is,  that  we,  who  pay  all  this,  shall  not  be 
permitted  to  petition  Congress  on  the  subject  of  their 
institutions,  for,  if  we  can  be  prevented  in  one  case,  we 
can  in  all  possible  cases.  Mark,  sir,  how  plain  a  tale  will 
silence  these  petitioners.  If  slavery  in  the  District 
concerns  only  the  inhabitants  and  Congress,  so  do  all 
municipal  regulations.  Should  they  extend  to  granting 
lottery,  gaming-houses,  tippling- ho  uses,  and  other  places 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  135 

calculated  to  promote  and  encourage  vice  —  should  a 
representative  in  Congress  be  instructed  by  his  constitu- 
ents to  use  his  influence,  and  vote  against  such  establish- 
ments, and  the  people  of  the  District  should  instruct  him 
to  vote  for  them,  which  should  he  obey  ?  To  state  the 
question  is  to  answer  it ;  otherwise  the  boasted  right  of 
instruction  by  the  constituent  body  is  "  mere  sound," 
signifying  nothing.  Sir,  the  inhabitants  of  this  District 
are  subject  to  State  legislation  and  State  policy  ;  they  can 
not  complain  of  this,  for  their  condition  is  voluntary; 
and  as  this  city  is  the  focus  of  power,  of  influence,  and 
considered  also  that  of  fashion,  if  not  of  folly;  and  as  the 
streams  which  flow  from  here  irradiate  the  whole  country, 
it  is  proper,  that  it  should  be  subject  to  State  policy  and 
State  power,  and  not  used  as  a  leaven  to  ferment  and 
corrupt  the  whole  body  politic. 

The  honorable  Senator  has  said  the  petition,  though 
from  a  city,  is  the  fair  expression  of  the  opinion  of  the 
District.  As  such  I  treated  it,  am  willing  to  acknowledge 
the  respectability  of  the  petitioners  and  their  rights,  and 
I  claim  for  the  people  of  my  own  State  equal  respecta- 
bility and  equal  rights  to  those  the  people  of  the  District 
are  entitled  to :  any  peculiar  rights  and  advantages  I 
can  not  admit. 

I  agree  with  the  Senator,  that  the  proceedings  on  aboli- 
tion petitions,  heretofore,  have  not  been  the  most  wise 
and  prudent  course.  They  ought  to  have  been  referred 
and  acted  on.  Such  was  my  object,  a  day  or  two  since, 
when  I  laid  on  your  table  a  resolution  to  refer  them  to  a 
committee  for  inquiry.  You  did  not  suffer  it,  sir,  to  be 
printed.  The  country  and  posterity  will  judge  between 
the  people  whom  I  represent,  and  those  who  caused  to  be 
printed  the  petition  from  the  city.  It  can  not  be  possible 
that  justice  can  have  been  done  in  both  cases.  The  exclu- 
sive legislation  of  Congress  over  the  District  is  as  much 
the  act  of  the  constituent  body,  as  the  general  legislation 


136  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

of  Congress  over  the  States,  and  to  the  operation  of  this 
act  have  the  people  within  the  District  submitted  them- 
selves. 1  can  not,  however,  join  the  Senator  in  supposing 
that  the  majority,  in  refusing  to  receive  and  refer  peti- 
tions, did  not  intend  to  destroy  or  impair  the  right  in  this 
particular.  They  certainly  have  done  so. 

The  Senator  admits  the  abolitionists  are  now  formida- 
ble ;  that  something  must  be  done  to  produce  harmony. 
Yes,  sir,  do  justice,  and  harmony  will  be  restored.  Act 
impartially,  that  justice  may  be  done :  hear  petitions  on 
both  sides,  if  they  are  offered,  and  give  righteous  judg- 
ments, and  your  people  will  be  satisfied.  You  can  not 
compromise  them  out  of  their  rights,  nor  lull  them  to 
sleep  with  fallacies  in  the  shape  of  reports.  You  can  not 
conquer  them  by  rebuke,  nor  deceive  them  by  sophistry. 
Remember  you  can  not  now  turn  public  opinion,  nor  can 
you  overthrow  it.  You  must,  and  you  will,  abandon  the 
high  ground  you  have  taken,  and  receive  petitions.  The 
reason  of  the  case,  the  argument  and  judgment  of  the 
people,  are  all  against  you.  One  in  this  cause  can  "chase 
a  thousand,"  and  the  voice  of  justice  will  be  heard  when- 
ever you  agitate  the  subject.  In  Indiana,  the  right  to 
petition  has  been  most  nobly  advocated  in  a  protest,  by  a 
member,  against  some  puny  resolutions  of  the  Legislature 
of  that  State  to  whitewash  slavery.  Permit  me  to  read  a 
paragraph  worthy  an  American  freeman : 

"  But  who  would  have  thought  until  lately,  that  any 
would  have  doubted  the  right  to  petition  in  a  respectful 
manner  to  Congress?  "Who  would  have  believed,  that 
Congress  had  any  authority  to  refuse  to  consider  the  peti- 
tions of  the  people?  Such  a  step  would  overthrow  the 
Autocrat  of  Russia,  or  cost  the  Grand  Seignior  of  Constan- 
tinople his  head.  Can  it  be  possible,  therefore,  that  it 
has  been  reserved  for  a  Republican  Government,  in  a  land 
boasting  of  its  free  institutions,  to  set  the  first  precedent 
of  this  kind?  Our  city  councils,  our  courts  of  justice, 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  137 

every  department  of  Government  are  approached  by 
petition,  however  unanswerable,  or  absurd,  so  that  its 
terms  are  respectful.  None  go  away  unread,  or  unheard. 
The  life  of  every  individual  is  a  perfect  illustration  of  the 
subject  of  petitioning.  Petition  is  the  language  of  want, 
of  pain,  of  sorrow,  of  man  in  all  his  sad  variety  of  woes, 
imploring  relief,  at  the  hand  of  some  power  superior  to 
himself.  Petitioning  is  the  foundation  of  all  government, 
and  of  all  the  administrations  of  law.  Yet  it  has  been 
reserved  for  our  Congress,  seconded  indirectly  by  the 
vote  of  this  Legislature,  to  question  this  right,  hitherto 
supposed  to  be  so  old,  so  heaven-deeded,  so  undoubted, 
that  our  fathers  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  place  a 
guaranty  of  it  in  the  first  draft  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion. Yet  this  sacred  right  has  been,  at  one  blow,  driven, 
destroyed,  and  trodden  under  the  feet  of  slavery.  The 
old  bulwarks  of  our  Federal  and  State  Constitutions  seem 
utterly  to  have  been  forgotten,  which  declare — 'that  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  press  shall  not  be  abridged, 
nor  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  and 
petition  for  the  redress  of  their  grievances.'  " 

These,  Sir,  are  the  sentiments  which  make  Abolitionists 
formidable,  and  set  at  nought  all  your  councils  for  their 
overthrow.  The  honorable  Senator  not  only  admits  that 
Abolitionists  are  formidable,  but  that  they  consist  of 
three  classes.  The  friends  of  humanity  and  justice,  or 
those  actuated  by  those  principles,  compose  one  class. 
These  form  a  very  numerous  class,  and  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Senator  proves  the  immutable  principles 
upon  which  opposition  to  slavery  rests.  Men  are  opposed 
to  it  on  principles  of  humanity  and  justice  —  men  are 
Abolitionists,  he  admits,  on  that  account.  We  thank  the 
Senator  for  teaching  us  that  word ;  we  intend  to  improve 
it.  The  next  class  of  Abolitionists,  the  Senator  says,  are 
so,  apparently,  for  the  purpose  of  advocating  the  right  of 
petition.  What  are  we  to  understand  from  this  ?  That 
12 


138  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  right  of  petition  needs  advocacy.  Who  has  denied 
this  right,  or  who  has  attempted  to  abridge  it?  The 
slaveholding  power ;  that  power  which  avoids  open  dis- 
cussion, and  the  free  exercise  of  opinion ;  it  is  that  power 
alone  which  renders  the  advocacy  of  the  right  of  petition 
necessary,  having  seized  upon  all  the  powers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  fast  uniting  together  those  opposed  to  its 
iron  rule,  no  matter  to  what  political  party  they  have 
heretofore  belonged ;  they  are  uniting  with  the  first  class, 
and  act  from  principles  of  humanity  and  justice ;  and  if 
the  mists  and  shades  of  slavery  were  not  the  atmosphere 
in  which  gentlemen  were  enveloped,  they  would  see  con- 
stant and  increasing  numbers  of  our  most  worthy  and 
intelligent  citizens  attaching  themselves  to  the  two  classes 
mentioned,  and  rallying  under  the  banners  of  Abolition- 
ism. They  are  compelled  to  go  there,  if  the  gentleman 
will  have  it  so,  in  order  to  defend  and  perpetuate  the 
liberties  of  the  country.  The  hopes  of  the  oppressed 
spring  up  afresh  from  this  discussion  of  the  gentleman. 

The  third  class,  the  Senator  says,  are  those  who,  to 
accomplish  their  ends,  act  without  regard  to  consequences. 
To  them,  all  the  rights  of  property,  of  the  States,  of  the 
Union,  the  Senator  says,  are  nothing.  He  says  they  aim 
at  other  objects  than  those  they  profess — emancipation  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  No,  says  the  Senator,  their 
object  is  universal  emancipation,  not  only  in  the  District, 
but  in  the  Territories  and  in  the  States.  Their  object  is 
to  set  free  three  millions  of  negro  slaves.  Who  made  the 
Senator,  in  his  place  here,  the  censor  of  his  fellow-citizens? 
Who  authorized  him  to  charge  them  with  other  objects 
than  those  they  profess?  How  long  is  it  since  the  Senator 
himself,  on  this  floor,  denounced  slavery  as  an  evil?  What 
other  inducements  or  object  had  he  then  in  view?  Sup- 
pose universal  emancipation  to  be  the  object  of  these 
petitioners;  is  it  not  a  noble  and  praiseworthy  object, 
worthy  of  the  Christian,  the  philanthropist,  the  statesman, 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  139 

and  the  citizen?  But  the  Senator  says,  they  (the  peti- 
tioners) aim  to  excite  one  portion  of  the  country  against 
another.  I  deny,  Sir,  this  charge,  and  call  for  the  proof; 
it  is  gratuitous,  uncalled  for,  and  unjust  toward  my  fel- 
low citizens.  This  is  the  language  of  a  stricken  con- 
science, seeking  for  the  palliation  of  its  own  acts  by 
charging  guilt  upon  others.  It  is  the  language  of  those 
who,  failing  in  argument,  endeavor  to  cast  suspicion  upon 
the  character  of  their  opponents,  in  order  to  draw  public 
attention  from  themselves.  It  is  the  language  of  disguise 
and  concealment,  and  not  that  of  fair  and  honorable 
investigation,  the  object  of  which  is  truth.  I  again  put 
in  a  broad  denial  to  this  charge,  that  any  portion  of  these 
petitioners,  whom  I  represent,  seek  to  excite  one  portion 
of  the  country  against  another ;  and  without  proof  I  can 
not  admit  that  the  assertion  of  the  honorable  Senator 
establishes  the  fact.  It  is  but  opinion,  and  naked  asser- 
tion only.  The  Senator  complains  that  the  means  and 
views  of  the  Abolitionists  are  not  confined  to  securing  the 
right  of  petition  only ;  no,  they  resort  to  other  means,  he 
affirms,  to  the  BALLOT  BOX  ;  and  if  that  fail,  says  the  Sen- 
ator, their  next  appeal  will  be  to  the  bayonet. 

Sir,  no  man,  who  is  an  American  in  feeling  and  in  heart, 
but  ought  to  repel  this  charge  instantly,  and  without  any 
reservation  whatever,  that  if  they  fail  at  the  ballot  box 
they  will  resort  to  the  bayonet.  If  such  a  fratricidal 
course  should  ever  be  thought  of  in  our  country,  it  will 
not  be  by  those  who  seek  redress  of  wrongs,  by  exercising 
the  right  of  petition,  but  by  those  only  who  deny  that 
right  to  others,  and  seek  to  usurp  the  whole  power  of  the 
Government.  If  the  ballot  box  fail  them,  the  bayonet 
may  be  their  resort,  as  mobs  and  violence  now  are.  Does 
the  Senator  believe  that  any  portion  of  the  honest  yeo- 
manry of  the  country  entertain  such  thoughts  ?  I  hope 
he  does  not.  If  thoughts  of  this  kind  exist,  they  are  to 
be  found  in  the  hearts  of  aspirants  to  office,  and  their 


140  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

adherems,  and  none  others.  Who,  sir,  is  making  this 
question  a  political  affair  ?  Not  the  petitioners.  It  was  the 
slaveholding  power  which  first  made  this  move.  I  have 
noticed  for  some  time  past  that  many  of  the  public  prints 
in  this  city,  as  well  as  elswhere,  have  been  filled  with  essays 
against  Abolitionists  for  exercising  the  rights  of  freemen. 
Both  political  parties,  however,  have  courted  them  in 
private  and  denounced  them  in  public,  and  both  have 
equally  deceived  them.  And  who  shall  dare  say  that  an 
Abolitionist  has  no  right  to  carry  his  principles  to  the 
ballot  box?  Who  fears  the  ballot  boxf  The  honest  in  heart, 
the  lover  of  our  country  and  its  institutions  ?  No,  sir !  It 
is  feared  by  the  tyrant ;  he  who  usurps  power,  and  seizes 
upon  the  liberty  of  others ;  he,  for  one,  fears  the  ballot 
box.  Where  is  the  slave  to  party  in  this  country  who  is 
so  lost  to  his  own  dignity,  or  so  corrupted  by  interest  or 
power,  that  he  does  not,  or  will  not,  carry  his  principles 
and  his  judgment  into  the  ballot  box?  Such  an  one 
ought  to  have  the  mark  of  Cain  in  his  forehead,  and  be  sent 
to  labor  among  the  negro  slaves  of  the  South.  The  hon- 
orable Senator  seems  anxious  to  take  under  his  care  the 
ballot  box,  as  he  has  the  slave  system  of  the  country, 
and  direct  who  shall  or  who  shall  not  use  it  for  the 
redress  of  what  they  deem  a  political  grievance.  Suppose 
the  power  of  the  Executive  Chair  should  take  under  its 
care  the  right  of  voting,  who  should  proscribe  any 
portion  of  our  citizens  who  should  carry  with  them 
to  the  polls  of  election  their  own  opinions,  creeds,  and 
doctrines.  This  would  at  once  be  a  death-blow  to  our 
liberties,  and  the  remedy  could  only  be  found  in  revolu- 
tion. There  can  be  no  excuse  or  pretext  for  revolution 
while  the  ballot  box  is  free.  Our  Government  is  not  one 
of  force,  but  of  principle ;  its  foundation  rests  on  public 
opinion,  and  its  hope  is  in  the  morality  of  the  nation. 
The  moral  power  of  that  of  the  ballot  box  is  sufficient  to 
correct  all  abuses.  Let  me,  then,  proclaim  here,  from  this 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  141 

high  arena,  to  the  citizens  not  only  of  my  own  State,  but 
to  the  country,  to  all  sects  and  parties  who  are  entitled  to 
the  right  of  suffrage,  To  THE  BALLOT  BOX  !  carry  with  you 
honestly  your  own  sentiments  respecting  the  welfare  of 
your  country,  and  make  them  operate  as  effectually  as 
you  can,  through  that  medium,  upon  its  policy  and  for  its 
prosperity.  Fear  not  the  frowns  of  power.  It  trembles 
while  it  denounces  you.  The  Senator  complains  that  the 
Abolitionists  have  associated  with  the  politics  of  the 
country.  So  far  as  I  am  capable  of  judging,  this  charge 
is  not  well  founded ;  many  politicians  of  the  country  have 
used  Abolitionists  as  stepping  stones  to  mount  into  power ; 
and,  when  there,  have  turned  about  and  traduced  them. 
He  admits  that  political  parties  are  willing  to  unite  with 
them  any  class  of  men,  in  order  to  carry  their  purposes. 
Are  Abolitionists,  then,  to  blame  if  they  pursue  the  same 
course  ?  It  seems  the  Senator  is  willing  that  his  party 
should  make  use  of  even  Abolitionists ;  but  he  is  not  wil- 
ling that  Abolitionists  should  use  the  same  party  for  their 
purpose.  This  seems  not  to  be  in  accordance  with  that 
equality  of  rights  about  which  we  heard  so  much  at  the 
last  session.  Abolitionists  have  nothing  to  fear.  If  pub- 
lic opinion  should  be  for  them,  politicians  will  be  around 
and  among  them  as  the  locusts  of  Egypt.  The  Senator 
seems  to  admit  that,  if  the  Abolitionists  are  joined  to 
either  party,  there  is  danger  —  danger  of  what  ?  That 
humanity  and  justice  will  prevail  ?  that  the  right  of  peti- 
tion will  be  secured  to  ALL  EQUALLY  ?  and  that  the  long- 
lost  and  trodden  African  race  will  be  restored  to  their 
natural  right?  ?  "Would  the  Senator  regret  to  see  this 
accomplished  by  argument,  persuasion,  and  the  force  of 
an  enlightened  public  opinion?  I  hope  not;  and  these 
petitioners  ask  the  use  of  no  other  weapons  in  this  warfare. 
These  ultra-abolitionists,  says  the  Senator,  invoke  the 
power  of  this  Government  to  their  aid.  And  pray,  sir, 
what  power  should  they  invoke?  Have  they  not  th« 


142  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

same  right  to  approach  this  Government  as  other  men  ? 
Is  the  Senator  or  this  body  authorized  to  deny  them  any 
privileges  secured  to  other  citizens  ?  If  so,  let  himShow 
me  the  charter  of  his  power  and  I  will  be  silent.  Until 
he  can  do  this,  I  shall  uphold,  justify,  and  sustain  them, 
as  I  do  other  citizens.  The  exercise  of  power  by  Con- 
gress in  behalf  of  the  slaves  within  this  District,  the 
Senator  seems  to  think,  no  one  without  the  District  has 
the  least  claim  to  ask  for.  It  is  because  I  reside  without 
the  District,  and  am  called  within  it  by  the  Constitution, 
that  I  object  to  the  existence  of  slavery  here.  I  deny  the 
gentleman's  position,  then,  on  this  point.  On  this,  then, 
we  are  equal. 

The  Senator,  however,  is  at  war  with  himself.  He 
contends  the  object  of  the  cession  by  the  States  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland,  was  to  establish  a  Seat  of  Govern- 
ment only,  and  to  give  Congress  whatever  power  was 
necessary  to  render  the  District  a  valuable  and  comfort- 
able situation  for  that  purpose,  and  that  Congress  have 
full  power  to  do  whatever  is  necessary  for  this  District ; 
and  if  to  abolish  slavery  be  necessary,  to  attain  that 
object,  Congress  have  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District.  I  am  sure  I  quote  the  gentleman  substantially ; 
and  I  thank  him  for  this  precious  confession  in  his  argu- 
ment ;  it  is  what  I  believe,  and  I  know  it  is  all  I  feel  dis- 
posed to  ask.  If  we  can,  then,  prove  that  this  District  is 
not  as  comfortable  and  convenient  a  place  for  the  delibe- 
rations of  Congress,  and  the  comfort  of  our  citizens  who 
may  visit  it,  while  slavery  exists  here,  as  it  would  be 
without  slavery,  then  slavery  ought  to  be  abolished ;  and 
I  trust  we  shall  have  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Ken- 
tucky to  aid  us  in  this  great  national  reformation.  I  take 
the  Senator  at  his  word.  I  agree  with  him  that  this  ought 
to  be  such  a  place  as  he  has  described ;  but  I  deny  that  it 
ifl  so.  And  upon  what  facts  do  I  rest  my  denial  ?  We 
are  a  Christian  nation,  a  moral  and  religious  people.  I 


LIFE   OP   SENATOR  MORRIS.  143 

speak  for  the  free  States,  at  least  for  my  own  State ;  and 
what  a  contrast  do  the  very  streets  of  your  capital  daily 
present  to  the  Christianity  and  morality  of  the  nation  ? 
A  race  of  slaves,  or  at  least  colored  persons,  of  every  hue 
from  the  jet-black  African,  in  regular  gradation,  up  to  the 
almost  pure  Anglo-Saxon  color.  During  the  short  time 
official  duty  has  called  me  here,  I  have  seen  the  really  red 
haired,  the  freckled,  and  the  almost  white  negro ;  and  I 
have  been  astonished  at  the  number  of  the  mixed  race, 
when  compared  with  those  of  full  color,  and  I  have  deeply 
deplored  this  stain  upon  our  national  morals;  and  the 
words  of  Dr.  Channing  have,  thousands  of  times,  been 
impressed  on  my  mind,  that  "  a  slave  country  reeks  with 
licentiousness."  How  comes  this  amalgamation  of  the 
races?  It  comes  from  slavery.  It  is  a  disagreeable 
annoyance  to  those  who  come  from  the  free  States,  espe- 
cially to  their  Christian  and  moral  feelings.  It  is  a  great 
hindrance  to  the  proper  discharge  of  their  duties  while 
here.  Remove  slavery  from  this  District,  and  this  evil 
will  disappear.  We  argue  this  circumstance  alone  as  suf- 
ficient cause  to  produce  this  effect.  But  slavery  presents 
within  the  District  other  and  still  more  appalling  scenes ; 
scenes  well  calculated  to  awaken  the  deepest  feelings  of 
the  human  heart.  The  slave-trade  exists  here  in  all  its 
HORRORS,  and  unwhipt  of  all  its  crimes.  In  view  of  the 
very  chair  which  you  now  occupy,  Mr.  President,  if  the 
massy  walls  of  this  building  did  not  prevent  it,  you  could 
see  the  prison,  the  pen,  the  HELL,  where  human  beings, 
when  purchased  for  sale,  are  kept  until  a  cargo  can  be 
procured  for  transportation  to  a  Southern  or  foreign  mar- 
ket; for  I  have  little  doubt  slaves  are  carried  to  Texas  for 
sale,  though  I  do  not  know  the  fact. 

Sir,  since  Congress  have  been  in  session,  a  mournful 
group  of  these  unhappy  beings,  some  thirty  or  forty, 
were  marched,  as  if  in  derision  of  members  of  Congress, 
in  view  of  your  Capitol,  chained  and  manacled  together, 


144  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

in  open  day -light,  yes,  in  the  very  face  of  Heaven  itself, 
to  be  shipped  at  Baltimore  for  a  foreign  market.  I  did 
not  witness  this  cruel  transaction,  but  speak  from  what  I 
have  heard  and  believe.  Is  this  District,  then,  a  fit  place 
for  our  deliberations,  whose  feelings  are  outraged  with 
impunity  with  transactions  like  this  ?  Suppose,  Sir,  that 
mournful  and  degrading  spectacle  was  at  this  moment 
exhibited  under  the  windows  of  our  Chamber,  do  you 
think  the  Senate  could  deliberate,  could  continue  with 
that  composure  and  attention  which  I  see  around  me? 
No,  Sir ;  all  your  powers  could  not  preserve  order  for  a 
a  moment.  The  feelings  of  humanity  would  overcome 
those  of  regard  for  the  peculiar  institutions  of  the  States ; 
and  though  we  would  be  politically  and  legally  bound  not 
to  interfere,  we  are  not  morally  bound  to  withhold  our 
sympathy  and  our  execration,  in  witnessing  such  inhuman 
traffic.  This  traffic  alone,  in  this  District,  renders  it  an 
uncomfortable  and  unfit  place  for  your  Seat  of  Govern- 
ment. Sir,  it  is  but  one  or  two  years  since  I  saw  stand- 
ing at  the  railroad  depot,  as  I  passed  from  my  boarding 
house  to  this  Chamber,  some  large  wagons  and  teams,  as 
if  waiting  for  freight ;  the  cars  had  not  then  arrived.  I 
was  inquired  of,  when  I  returned  to  my  lodgings,  by  my 
landlady,  if  I  knew  the  object  of  those  wagons  which  I 
saw  in  the  morning?  I  replied,  I  did  not;  I  suppose  they 
came  and  were  waiting  for  loading.  "  Yes,  for  slaves,"  said 
she ;  "and  one  of  those  wagons  was  filled  with  little  boys 
and  little  girls,  who  had  been  bought  up  through  the  coun- 
try, and  were  to  be  taken  to  a  Southern  market.  Ah,  Sir ! " 
continued  she,  "it  made  my  very  heart  ache  to  see  them." 
The  very  recital  unnerved  and  unfitted  me  for  thought  or 
reflection  on  any  other  subject  for  some  time.  It  is  scenes 
like  this,  of  which  ladies  of  my  country  and  my  State 
complained  in  their  petitions,  some  time  since,  as  render- 
ing this  District  unpleasant,  should  they  visit  the  capital 
of  the  nation  as  wives,  sisters,  daughters  or  friends  of 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  145 

members  of  Congress.  Yet,  Sir,  those  respectable  females 
were  treated  with  contemptuous  sneers ;  they  were  com- 
pared, on  this  floor,  to  the  fish-women  of  Paris,  who 
dipped  their  fingers  in  the  blood  of  revolutionary  France. 
Sir,  if  the  transaction  in  slaves  here,  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, could  make  such  an  impression  on  the  heart  of  a 
lady,  a  resident  of  the  District,  one  who  had  been  used  to 
slaves,  and  was  probably  an  owner,  what  would  be  the 
feelings  of  ladies  from  the  free  States  on  beholding  a  like 
transaction?  I  will  leave  every  gentleman  and  every 
lady  to  answer  for  themselves.  I  am  unable  to  describe 
it.  Shall  the  capital  of  your  country  longer  exhibit 
scenes  so  revolting  to  humanity,  that  the  ladies  of  your 
country  can  not  visit  it  without  disgust  ?  No ;  wipe  off 
the  foul  stain,  and  let  it  become  a  suitable  and  comfortable 
place  for  the  Seat  of  Government. 

The  Senator,  as  if  conscious  that  his  argument  on  this 
point  had  proved  too  much,  and  of  course  had  proven  the 
converse  of  what  he  wished  to  establish,  concluded  this 
part  by  saying,  that  if  slavery  is  abolished,  the  act  ought 
to  be  confined  to  the  city  alone.  "We  thank  him  for  thig 
small  sprinkling  of  correct  opinion  upon  this  arid  waste 
of  public  feeling.  Liberty  may  yet  vegetate  and  grow 
even  here. 

The  Senator  insists  that  the  States  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland  would  never  have  ceded  this  District  if  they 
had  thought  slavery  would  have  been  abolished  in 
it.  This  is  an  old  story  twice  told.  It  was  never,  how- 
ever, thought  of,  until  the  slave  power  imagined  it,  for  its 
own  security.  Let  the  States  ask  a  retrocession  of  the 
District,  and  I  am  sure  the  free  States  will  rejoice  to  make 
the  grant. 

The   Senator  condemns  the  Abolitionists  for  desiring 

that  slavery  should  not  exist  in  the  Territories,  even  in 

Florida.    He  insists  that,  by  the  treaty,  the  inhabitants 

of  that  country  have  the  right  to  remove  their  EFFECTS 

13 


146  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

when  they  please  ;  and  that,  by  this  condition,  they  have 
the  right  to  retain  their  slaves  as  effects,  independently 
of  the  power  of  Congress.  I  am  no  diplomatist,  sir,  but 
I  venture  to  deny  the  conclusion  of  the  Senator's  argu- 
ment. In  all  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  in  all 
our  treaties  in  which  the  words  "  goods,  effects,"  etc.,  are 
used,  slaves  have  never  been  considered  as  included.  In 
all  cases  in  which  slaves  are  the  subject  matter  of  contro- 
versy, they  are  specially  named  by  the  word  "  slaves  ;  " 
and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  it  has  been  decided  in  Con- 
gress, that  slaves  are  not  property  for  which  a  compensa- 
tion shall  be  made  when  taken  for  public  use,  (or  rather, 
slaves  can  not  be  considered  as  taken  for  public  use,)  or 
as  property  by  the  enemy,  when  they  are  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States.  If  I  am  correct,  as  I  believe  I  am, 
in  the  position  I  have  assumed,  the  gentleman  can  say 
nothing,  by  this  part  of  his  argument,  against  Abolition- 
ists, for  asking  that  slavery  shall  not  exist  in  Florida. 

The  gentleman  contends  that  the  power  to  remove 
slaves  from  one  State  to  another,  for  sale,  is  found  in  that 
part  of  the  Constitution  which  gives  Congress  the  power 
to  regulate  commerce  within  the  State,  etc.  This  argu- 
ment is  a  non  tequitur,  unless  the  honorable  Senator  can  first 
prove  that  slaves  are  proper  articles  for  commerce.  We 
say  that  Congress  have  power  over  slaves  only  as  persons. 
The  United  States  can  protect  persons,  but  can  not  make 
them  property,  and  they  have  full  power  in  regulating 
commerce,  and  can,  in  such  regulations,  prohibit  from  its 
operations  every  thing  but  property ;  property  made  so 
by  the  laws  of  nature,  and  not  by  any  municipal  regula- 
tions. The  dominion  of  men  over  things,  as  property, 
was  settled  by  his  Creator  when  man  was  first  placed 
upon  the  earth.  He  was  to  subdue  the  earth,  and  have 
dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  fowls  of  the  air,  and 
over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth } 
every  herb  bearing  seed,  and  the  fruit  of  the  tree  yielding 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  147 

seed,  was  given  for  his  use.  This  is  the  foundation  of  all 
right  in  property  of  every  description.  It  is  for  the  use 
of  man  the  grant  is  made,  and  of  course  man  can  not  be 
included  in  the  grant.  Every  municipal  regulation,  then, 
of  any  State,  or  any  of  its  peculiar  institutions,  which 
makes  man  property,  is  a  violation  of  this  great  law  of 
nature,  and  is  founded  in  usurpation  and  tyranny,  and  is 
accomplished  by  force,  fraud,  or  an  abuse  of  power.  It  is  a 
violation  of  the  principles  of  truth  and  justice,  in  subject- 
ing the  weaker  to  the  stronger  man.  In  a  Christian 
nation  such  property  can  form  no  just  ground  for  commer- 
cial regulations,  but  ought  to  be  strictly  prohibited.  I 
therefore  believe  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress,  by  virtue  of 
this  power  to  regulate  commerce,  to  prohibit,  at  once, 
slaves  being  used  as  articles  of  trade. 

The  gentleman  says,  the  Constitution  left  the  subject 
of  slavery  entirely  to  the  States.  To  this  position  I 
assent;  and,  as  the  States  can  not  regulate  their  own 
commerce,  but  the  same  being  the  right  of  Congress,  that 
body  can  not  make  slaves  an  article  of  commerce,  because 
slavery  is  left  entirely  to  the  States  in  which  it  exists  ; 
and  slaves  within  these  States,  according  to  the  gentle- 
man, are  excluded  from  the  power  of  Congress.  Can 
Congress,  in  regulating  commerce  among  the  several 
States,  authorize  the  transportation  of  articles  from  one 
State,  and  their  sale  in  another,  which  they  have  not 
power  so  to  authorize  in  any  State  ?  I  can  not  believe  in 
such  doctrine  ;  and  now  solemnly  protest  against  the 
power  of  Congress  to  authorize  the  transportation  to,  and 
the  sale  in,  Ohio,  of  any  negro  slave  whatever,  or  for  any 
possible  purpose  under  the  sun.  Who  is  there  in  Ohio, 
or  elsewhere,  that  will  dare  deny  this  position  ?  If  Ohio 
contains  such  a  recreant  to  her  Constitution  and  policy,  I 
hope  he  may  have  the  boldness  to  stand  forth  and  avow 
it.  If  the  States  in  which  slavery  exists  love  it  as  a 
household  god,  let  them  keep  it  there,  and  not  call  upon 


148  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

us  in  the  free  States  to  offer  incense  to  their  idol.  We  do 
not  seek  to  touch  it  with  unhallowed  hands,  but  with 
pure  hands,  upraised  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  suffering 
humanity. 

The  gentleman  admits  that,  at  the  formation  of  our 
Government,  it  was  feared  that  slavery  might  eventually 
divide  or  distract  our  country ;  and,  as  the  BALLOT  BOX 
seems  continually  to  haunt  his  imagination,  he  says  there 
is  real  danger  of  dissolution  of  the  Union  if  Abolitionista, 
as  is  evident  they  do,  will  carry  their  principles  into  the 
BALLOT  BOX.  If  not  disunion  in  fact,  at  least  in  feeling,  in 
the  country,  which  is  always  the  precursor  to  the  clash  of 
arms.  And  the  gentleman  further  says  we  are  taught  by 
holy  writ,  "  that  the  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong."  The  moral  of  the  gentleman's  argument 
is,  that  truth  and  righteousness  will  prevail,  though  op- 
posed by  power  and  influence  ;  that  Abolitionists,  though 
few  in  number,  are  greatly  to  be  feared ;  one,  as  I  have 
said,  may  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight ;  and,  as  their  weapons  of  warfare  are  not  "  carnal, 
but  mighty  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds,"  even 
slavery  itself;  and  as  the  ballot  box  is  the  great  moral 
lever  in  political  action,  the  gentleman  would  exclude 
Abolitionists  entirely  from  its  use,  and  for  opinion's  sake, 
deny  them  this  high  privilege  of  every  American  citizen. 
Permit  me,  sir,  to  remind  the  gentleman  of  another  text 
of  holy  writ.  "  The  wicked  flee  when  no  man  pursueth, 
but  the  righteous  are  bold  as  a  lion."  The  Senator  saya 
that  those  who  have  slaves,  are  sometimes  supposed  to  be 
under  too  much  alarm.  Does  this  prove  the  application 
of  the  text  I  have  just  quoted?  "Conscience  sometimes 
makes  cowards  of  us  all."  The  Senator  appeals  to  Aboli- 
tionists, and  beseeches  them  to  cease  their  efforts  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  if  they  wish,  says  he,  "  to  exercise  their 
benevolence."  What!  Abolitionists  benevolent !  He  hopes 
they  will  select  some  object  not  so  terrible.  Oh,  sir,  he 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  149 

is  willing  they  should  pay  tithes  of  "  mint  and  rue," 
but  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment  and  mercy, 
he  would  have  them  entirely  overlook.  I  ought  to  thank 
the  Senator  for  introducing  holy  writ  into  this  debate, 
and  inform  him  his  arguments  are  not  the  sentiments  of 
Him,  who,  when  on  earth,  went  about  doing  good. 

The  Senator  further  entreats  the  clergy  to  desist  from 
their  efforts  in  behalf  of  Abolitionism.  "Who  authorized 
the  Senator,  as  a  politician,  to  use  his  influence  to  point 
out  to  the  clergy  what  they  should  pray?  Would  the 
Senator  dare  exert  his  power  here  to  bind  the  consciences 
of  men  ?  By  what  rule  of  ethics,  then,  does  he  undertake 
to  use  his  influence,  from  this  high  place  of  power,  in 
order  to  gain  the  same  object,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  determine. 
Sir,  this  movement  of  the  Senator  is  far  more  censurable 
and  dangerous,  as  an  attempt  to  unite  Church  and  State, 
than  were  the  petitions  against  Sunday  mails,  the  report 
in  opposition  to  which  gained  for  you,  Mr.  President,  so 
much  applause  in  the  country.  I,  Sir,  also  appeal  to  the 
clergy  to  maintain  their  rights  of  conscience  ;  and  if  they 
believe  slavery  to  be  a  sin,  we  ought  to  honor  and  respect 
them  for  their  open  denunciation  of  it,  rather  than  call  on 
them  to  desist,  for  between  their  conscience  and  their 
God,  we  have  no  power  to  interfere ;  we  do  not  wish  to 
make  them  political  agents  for  any  purpose. 

But  the  Senator  is  not  content  to  entreat  the  clergy 
alone  to  desist ;  he  calls  on  his  country-women  to  warn 
them,  also,  to  cease  their  efforts,  and  reminds  them  that 
the  ink  shed  from  the  pen  held  in  their  fair  fingers  when 
writing  their  names  to  abolition  petitions,  may  be  the 
cause  of  shedding  much  human  blood  !  Sir,  the  language 
toward  to  this  class  of  petitioners  is  very  much  changed  of 
late  ;  they  formerly  were  pronounced  idlers,  fanatics,  old 
women,  and  school  misses,  unworthy  of  respect  from 
intelligent  and  respectable  men.  I  warned  gentlemen 
then  that  they  would  change  their  language ;  the  blows 


150  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

they  aimed  fell  harmless  at  the  feet  of  those  whom 
they  were  intended  to  injure.  In  this  movement  of  my 
country-women  I  thought  was  plainly  to  be  discovered 
the  operations  of  Providence,  and  a  sure  sign  of  the  final 
triumph  of  universal  emancipation.  All  history,  both  sacred 
and  profane,  both  ancient  and  modern,  bears  testimony 
to  the  efficacy  of  female  influence  and  power  in  the  cause 
of  human  liberty.  From  the  time  of  the  preservation,  by 
the  hands  of  women,  of  the  great  Jewish  law -giver,  in  his 
infantile  hours,  and  who  was  preserved  for  the  purpose 
of  freeing  his  countrymen  from  Egyptian  bondage,  has 
woman  been  made  a  powerful  agent  in  breaking  to  pieces 
the  rod  of  the  oppressor.  With  a  pure  and  uncontamina- 
ted  mind,  her  actions  spring  from  the  deepest  recesses  of 
the  human  heart.  Denounce  her  as  you  will,  you  can  not 
deter  her  from  her  duty.  Pain,  sickness,  want,  poverty, 
and  even  death  itself  form  no  obstacles  in  her  onward 
march.  Even  the  tender  virgin  would  dress,  as  a  martyr 
for  the  stake,  as  for  her  bridal  hour,  rather  than  make 
sacrifice  of  her  purity  and  duty.  The  eloquence  of  the 
Senate,  and  clash  of  arms,  are  alike  powerful  when 
brought  in  opposition  to  the  influence  of  pure  and  virtu- 
ous woman.  The  liberty  of  the  slave  seems  now  to  be 
committed  to  her  charge,  and  who  can  doubt  her  final 
triumph  ?  I  do  not.  You  can  not  fight  against  her  and 
hope  for  success;  and  well  does  the  Senator  know  this  ; 
hence  this  appeal  to  her  feelings  to  terrify  her  from  that 
which  she  believes  to  be  her  duty.  It  is  a  vain  attempt. 
The  Senator  says  that  it  was  the  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution which  carried  us  through  the  Revolution. 
Surely  it  was  ;  and  to  use  the  language  of  another  Sena- 
tor from  a  slave  State,  on  a  former  occasion,  these  are  the 
very  principles  on  which  the  Abolitionists  plant  themselves. 
It  was  the  principle  that  all  men  are  born  FREE  AND 
EQUAL,  that  nerved  the  arm  of  our  fathers  in  their  contest 
for  independence.  It  was  for  the  natural  and  inherent 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  151 

rights  of  man  they  contended.  It  is  a  libel  upon  the  Con- 
stitution to  say  that  its  object  was  not  liberty,  but  slavery, 
for  millions  of  the  human  race. 

The  Senator,  well  fearing  that  all  his  eloquence  and  his 
arguments  thus  far  are  but  chaff,  when  weighed  in  the 
balance  against  truth  and  justice,  seems  to  find  consola- 
tion in  the  idea,  and  says  that  which  opposes  the  ulterior 
object  of  Abolitionists,  is  that  the  General  Government 
has  no  power  to  act  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  that 
the  Constitution  or  the  Union  would  not  last  au  hour  if 
the  power  claimed  was  exercised  by  Congress.  It  is 
slavery  then,  and  not  liberty,  that  makes  us  one  people. 
To  dissolve  slavery,  is  to  dissolve  the  Union.  Why 
require  of  us  to  support  the  Constitution  by  oath,  if  the 
Constitution  itself  is  subject  to  the  power  of  slavery,  and 
not  the  moral  power  of  the  country?  Change  the  form 
of  the  oath  which  you  administer  to  Senators  on  taking 
seats  here,  swear  them  to  support  slavery,  and  according 
to  the  logic  of  the  gentleman,  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  will  both  be  safe.  "We  hear  almost  daily  threats 
of  dissolving  the  Union ;  and  from  whence  do  they  come  ? 
From  citizens  of  the  free  States  ?  No !  From  the  slave 
States  only.  Why  wish  to  dissolve  it?  The  reason  is 
plain  —  that  a  new  government  may  be  formed,  by  which 
we,  as  a  nation,  may  be  made  a  slaveholding  people.  No 
impartial  observer  of  passing  events  can,  in  my  humble 
iudgment,  doubt  the  truth  of  this.  The  Senator  thinks 
the  Abolitionists  in  error,  if  they  wish  the  slaveholder  to 
free  his  slave.  He  asks,  why  denounce  him  ?  I  can  not 
admit  the  truth  of  the  question  ;  but  I  might  well  ask  the 
gentleman,  and  the  slaveholders  generally,  "  why  are  you 
angry  at  me,  because  I  tell  you  the  truth?"  It  is  the 
light  of  truth  which  the  slaveholder  can  not  endure ;  a 
plain,  unvarnished  tale  of  what  slavery  is,  he  considers  a 
libel  upon  himself.  The  fact  is,  the  slaveholder  feels  the 
leprosy  of  slavery  upon  him.  He  is  anxious  to  hide  the- 


162  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

odious  disease  from  the  public  eye ;  and  the  ballot  box, 
and  the  right  of  petition,  when  used  against  him,  he  feels 
as  sharp  reproof;  and  being  unwilling  to  renounce  his 
errors,  he  tries  to  escape  from  their  consequences,  by 
making  the  world  believe  that  HE  is  the  persecuted,  and 
not  the  persecutor.  Slaveholders  have  said  here,  during 
this  very  session  —  "the  fact  is,  slavery  will  not  bear 
examination."  It  is  the  Senator  who  denounces  Aboli- 
tionists for  the  exercise  of  their  most  unquestionable 
rights ;  while  Abolitionists  condemn  that  only  which  the 
Senator  himself  will  acknowledge  to  be  wrong  at  all 
times,  and  under  all  circumstances.  Because  he  admits 
that  if  it  was  an  original  question  whether  slaves  should 
be  introduced  among  us,  but  few  citizens  could  be  found 
to  agree  to  it,  and  none  more  opposed  to  it  than  himself. 
The  argument  is,  that  the  evil  of  slavery  is  incurable ; 
that  the  attempt  to  eradicate  it  would  commence  a  strug- 
gle which  would  exterminate  one  race  or  the  other. 
What  a  lamentable  picture  of  our  Government,  so  often 
pronounced  the  best  upon  earth !  The  seeds  of  disease, 
which  were  interwoven  into  its  first  existence,  have  now 
become  so  incorporated  into  its  frame,  that  they  can  not 
be  extracted  without  dissolving  the  whole  fabric ;  that  we 
must  endure  the  evil  without  hope  and  without  complaint. 
Our  very  natures  must  be  changed  before  we  can  be 
brought  tamely  to  submit  to  this  doctrine.  The  evil  will 
be  remedied :  and  to  use  the  language  of  Jefferson  again, 
"this  people  will  yet  be  free."  The  Senator  finds  consola- 
tion, however,  in  the  midst  of  this  existing  evil,  in  color 
and  caste.  The  black  race  (says  he)  is  the  strong  ground 
of  slavery  in  our  country.  Yes,  it  is  color,  not  right  and 
justice,  that  is  to  continue  forever  slavery  in  our  country. 
It  is  prejudice  against  color,  which  is  the  strong  ground 
of  the  slaveholder's  hope.  Is  that  prejudice  founded  in 
nature,  or  is  it  the  effect  of  base  and  sordid  interest  ?  Let 
'  the  mixed  race  which  we  see  here,  from  black  to  almost 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  153 

perfect  white,  springing  from  white  fathers,  answer  the 
question.  Slavery  has  no  just  foundation  in  color;  it 
rests  exclusively  upon  usurpation,  tyranny,  oppressive 
fraud,  and  force.  These  were  its  parents  in  every  age 
and  country  of  the  world. 

The  Senator  says,  the  next  or  greatest  difficulty  to 
emancipation  is,  the  amount  of  property  it  would  take 
from  the  owners,  All  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  are  con- 
founded in  these  words :  emancipate  property.  Emanci- 
pate a  horse,  or  an  ox,  would  not  only  be  an  unmeaning, 
but  a  ludicrous  expression.  To  emancipate,  is  to  set  free 
from  slavery.  To  emancipate,  is  to  set  free  a  man,  not 
property.  The  Senator  estimates  the  number  of  slaves — 
men  now  held  in  bondage — at  three  millions,  in  the 
United  States.  Is  this  statement  made  here  by  th«  same 
voice  which  was  heard  in  this  Capitol  in  favor  of  the 
liberties  of  Greece,  and  for  the  emancipation  of  our  South 
American  brethren  from  political  thraldom  ?  It  is ;  and 
has  all  its  fervor  in  favor  of  liberty  been  exhausted  upon 
foreign  countries,  so  as  not  to  leave  a  single  whisper  in 
favor  of  three  millions  of  men  in  our  own  country,  now 
groaning  under  the  most  galling  oppression  the  world 
ever  saw  ?  No,  Sir.  Sordid  interest  rules  the  hour.  Men 
are  made  property,  and  paper  is  made  money ;  and  the 
Senator,  no  doubt,  sees  in  these  two  peculiar  institutions 
a  power  which,  if  united,  will  be  able  to  accomplish  all 
his  wishes.  He  informs  us  that  some  have  computed  the 
slaves  to  be  worth  the  average  amount  of  five  hundred 
dollars  each.  He  will  estimate  within  bounds,  at  four 
hundred  dollars  each ;  making  the  amount  twelve  hun- 
dred millions  worth  of  slave  property.  I  heard  this 
statement,  Mr.  President,  with  emotions  of  the  deepest 
feeling. 

By  what  rule  of  political  or  commercial  arithmetic  does 
the  Senator  calculate  the  amount  of  property  in  human 
beings  ?  Can  it  be  fancy  or  fact,  that  I  hear  such  calcu- 


154  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

lation,  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  own  twelve 
hundred  millions'  (double  the  amount  of  all  the  specie  in 
the  world)  worth  of  human  flesh  !  And  this  property  is 
owned,  the  gentleman  informs  us,  by  all  classes  of  society, 
forming  part  of  all  our  contracts  within  our  own  country 
and  in  Europe.  I  should  have  been  glad,  Sir,  to  have 
been  spared  the  hearing  of  a  declaration  of  this  kind, 
especially  from  the  high  source  and  the  place  from  which 
it  emanated.  But  the  assertion  has  gone  forth  that  we 
have  twelve  hundred  millions  of  slave  property  at  the 
South ;  and  can  any  man  so  close  his  understanding 
here,  as  not  plainly  to  perceive  that  the  power  of  this  vast 
amount  of  property  at  the  South,  is  now  uniting  itself 
to  the  banking  power  of  the  North,  in  order  to  govern 
the  destinies  of  this  country  ?  Six  hundred  millions  of 
banking  capital  is  to  be  brought  into  this  coalition,  and 
the  slave  power  and  the  bank  power  are  thus  to  unite  in 
order  to  break  down  the  present  administration.  There 
can  be  no  mistake,  as  I  believe,  in  this  matter.  The 
aristocracy  of  the  North,  who,  by  the  power  of  a  corrupt 
banking  system,  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  South,  by  the 
power  of  the  slave  system,  both  fattening  upon  the  labor 
of  others,  are  now  about  to  unite  in  order  to  make  the 
reign  of  each  perpetual.  Is  there  an  independent  Amer- 
can  to  be  found,  who  will  become  the  recreant  slave  to 
such  an  unholy  combination  ?  Is  this  another  compro- 
mise to  barter  the  liberties  of  the  country  for  personal 
aggrandiezment  ?  "Kesistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience 
to  God." 

The  Senator  further  insists,  "  that  what  the  law  makes 
property  is  property."  This  is  the  predicate  of  the  gentle- 
man ;  he  has  neither  facts  nor  reason  .to  prove  it ;  yet 
upon  this  alone  does  he  rest  the  whole  case  that  negroes 
are  property.  I  deny  the  predicate  and  the  argument. 
Suppose  the  Legislature  of  the  Senator's  own  State  should 
pass  a  law  declaring  his  wife,  his  children,  his  friends, 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  155 

indeed,  any  white  citizen  of  Kentucky,  property,  and 
should  they  be  sold  and  transferred  as  such,  would  the 
gentleman  fold  his  arms  and  say,  "  Yes,  they  are  property, 
for  the  law  has  made  them  such  ?  "  No,  sir  ;  he  would 
denounce  such  law  with  more  vehemence  than  he  now 
denounces  Abolitionists,  and  would  deny  the  authority  of 
human  Legislation  to  accomplish  an  object  BO  clearly 
beyond  its  power. 

Human  laws,  I  contend,  can  not  make  human  beings 
property,  if  human  force  can  do  it.  If  it  is  competent  for 
our  legislatures  to  make  a  black  man  property,  it  is  compe- 
tent for  them  to  make  a  white  man  the  same ;  and  the 
same  objection  exists  to  the  power  of  the  people  in  an 
organic  law  for  their  own  government ;  they  can  not  make 
property  of  each  other;  and,  in  the  language  of  the 
Constitution  of  Indiana,  such  an  act  "  can  only  originate 
in  usurpation  and  tyranny."  Dreadful,  indeed,  would  be 
the  condition  of  this  country,  if  these  principles  should 
not  only  be  carried  into  the  ballot  box,  but  into  the  Pres- 
idential chair.  The  idea  that  the  Abolitionists  ought  to 
pay  for  the  slaves  if  they  are  set  free,  and  that  they  ought 
to  think  of  this,  is  addressed  to  their  fears,  and  not  their 
judgment.  There  is  no  principle  of  morality  or  justice 
that  should  require  them  or  our  citizens  generally  to  do 
so.  To  free  a  slave  is  to  take  from  usurpation  that  which 
it  has  made  property  and  given  to  another,  and  bestow  it 
upon  the  rightful  owner.  It  is  not  taking  property  from 
its  true  owner  for  public  use.  Men  can  do  with  their  own 
as  they  please,  to  distroy  their  peace  if  they  wish,  but  can 
not  be  compelled  to  do  so. 

The  gentleman  repeats  the  assertion  that  has  been 
repeated  a  thousand  and  one  times :  that  Abolitionists  are 
retarding  the  emancipation  of  the  slave,  and  have  thrown 
it  back  fifty  or  a  hundred  years ;  that  they  have  increased 
the  rigors  of  slavery,  and  caused  the  master  to  treat  his 


156  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

slave  with  more  severity.  Slavery,  then,  is  to  cease  at 
some  period  ;  and  because  the  Abolitionists  have  said  to 
the  slaveholder,  "  Now  is  the  accepted  time,"  and  because 
he  thinks  this  an  improper  interference  —  not  having  the 
Abolitionists  in  his  power,  he  inflicts  his  vengeance  on 
his  unoffending  slave !  The  moral  of  this  story  is,  the 
slaveholder  will  exercise  more  cruelty  because  he  is 
desired  to  show  mercy,  I  do  not  envy  the  Senator  the 
full  benefit  of  his  argument.  It  is  no  doubt  a  true  picture 
of  the  feelings  and  principles  which  slavery  engenders 
in  the  breast  of  the  master.  It  is  in  perfect  keeping  with 
the  threat  we  almost  daily  hear ;  that  if  petitioners  do 
not  cease  their  efforts  in  the  exercise  of  their  Constitu- 
tional rights,  others  will  dissolve  the  Union.  These, 
however,  ought  to  be  esteemed  idle  assertions  and  idle 
threats. 

The  Senator  tells  us  that  the  consequences  arising  from 
the  freedom  of  slaves,  would  be  to  reduce  the  wages  of 
the  white  laborer.  He  has  furnished  us  with  neither 
data  nor  fact  upon  which  this  opinion  can  rest.  He, 
however,  would  draw  a  line,  on  one  side  of  which  he 
would  place  the  slave  labor,  and  on  the  other  side  free 
white  labor ;  and  looking  over  the  whole,  as  a  general 
system,  both  would  appear  on  a  perfect  equality.  I  have 
observed,  for  some  years  past,  that  the  Southern  slave- 
holder has  insisted  that  his  laborers  are,  in  point  of  integ- 
rity, morality,  usefulness,  and  comfort,  equal  to  the  labor- 
ing population  of  the  North.  Thus  endeavoring  to  raise 
the  slave  in  public  estimation,  to  an  equality  with  the 
free  white  laborer  of  the  North ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Northern  aristocrat  has,  viz :  by  comparison, 
endeavored  to  reduce  his  laborers  to  the  moral  and  polit- 
ical condition  of  the  slaves  of  the  South.  It  is  for  the  free 
white  American  citizens  to  determine  whether  they  will 
permit  such  degrading  comparisons  longer  to  exist. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  157 

Already  has  this  spirit  broken  forth  in  denunciation  of 
the  right  of  universal  suffrage.  Will  free  white  laboring 
citizens  take  warning  before  it  is  too  late  ? 

The  last,  the  great,  the  crying  sin  of  Abolitionists,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Senator,  is  that  they  are  opposed  to  colon- 
ization, and  in  favor  of  amalgamation.  It  is  not  necessary 
now  to  enter  into  any  of  the  benefits  and  advantages  of 
colonization  ;  the  Senator  has  pronounced  it  the  noblest 
scheme  ever  devised  by  man ;  he  says  it  is  powerful  but 
harmless.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any  resulting  benefits 
from  the  scheme  to  either  race.  I  have  not  a  doubt  as  to 
the  real  object  intended  by  its  founders ;  it  did  not  arise 
from  principles  of  humanity  and  benevolence  toward  the 
colored  race,  but  a  desire  to  remove  the  free  of  that  race 
beyond  the  United  States,  in  order  to  perpetuate  and 
make  slavery  more  secure. 

The  Senator  further  makes  the  broad  charge  that  Abol- 
itionists wish  to  enforce  the  unnatural  system  of  amalga- 
mation. We  deny  the  fact,  and  call  on  the  Senator  for 
proof.  The  citizens  of  the  free  States,  the  petitioners 
against  slavery,  the  Abolitionists  of  the  free  States,  in 
favor  of  amalgamation  !  No  Sir !  If  you  want  evidence 
of  the  fact,  and  reasoning  in  support  of  amalgamation, 
you  must  look  into  the  slave  States  ;  it  is  there  it  spreads 
and  flourishes  from  slave  mothers,  and  presents  all  possi- 
ble colors  and  complexions,  from  the  jet  black  African  to 
the  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  white  person.  Does  any 
one  need  proof  of  this  fact  ?  let  him  take  but  a  few  turns 
through  the  streets  of  your  capital,  and  observe  those 
whom  he  shall  meet,  and  he  will  be  perfectly  satisfied. 
Amalgamation,  indeed  !  The  charge  is  made  with  a  very 
bad  grace  on  the  present  occasion.  No,  sir ;  it  is  not  the 
negro  woman,  it  is  the  $lave  and  the  contaminating  influ- 
ence of  slavery  that  is  the  mother  of  amalgamation. 
Does  the  gentleman  want  facts  on  this  subject  ?  let  him 
look  at  the  colored  race  in  the  free  States ;  it  is  a  rare 


158  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

occurrence  there.  A  colony  of  blacks,  some  three  or  four 
hundred,  were  settled,  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  since, 
in  the  count/  of  Brown,  a  few  miles  distant  from  my  for- 
mer residence  in  Ohio,  and  I  was  told  by  a  person  living 
near  them,  a  country  merchant  with  whom  they  dealt, 
when  conversing  with  him  on  this  very  subject,  that 
he  knew  of  but  one  instance  of  a  mulatto  child  being 
born  among  them  for  the  last  fifteen  years;  and  I 
venture  the  assertion,  had  this  same  colony  been  settled 
in  a  slave  State,  the  cases  of  a  like  kind  would  have  been 
far  more  numerous.  I  repeat  again,  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Channing,  it  is  a  slave  country  that  reeks  with  licen- 
tiousness of  this  kind,  and  for  proof  I  refer  to  the  opinions 
of  Judge  Harper,  of  North  Carolina,  in  his  defense  of 
southern  slavery. 

The  Senator,  as  if  fearing  that  he  had  made  his  charge 
too  broad,  and  might  fail  in  proof  to  sustain  it,  seems  to 
stop  short,  and  make  the  inquiry,  where  is  the  process  of 
amalgamation  to  begin  ?  He  had  heard  of  no  instance  of 
the  kind  against  Abolitionists ;  they  (Abolitionists)  would 
begin  it  with  the  laboring  class ;  and  if  I  understand  the 
Senator  correctly,  that  Abolitionism,  by  throwing  together 
the  white  and  the  black  laborers,  would  naturally  produce 
this  result.  Sir,  I  regret,  I  deplore,  that  such  a  charge 
should  be  made  against  the  laboring  class — that  class 
which  tills  the  ground ;  and  in  obedience  to  the  decree  of 
their  Maker,  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  face — 
that  class,  of  whom  Mr.  Jefferson  says,  if  God  has  a  chosen 
people  on  earth,  they  are  those  who  thus  labor.  This 
charge  is  calculated  for  effect,  to  induce  the  laboring  class 
to  believe,  that  if  emancipation  takes  place,  they  will  be, 
in  the  free  States,  reduced  to  the  same  condition  as  the 
colored  laborer.  The  reverse  of  that  is  the  truth  of  the 
case.  It  is  the  slaveholder  NOW,  he  who  looks  upon  labor 
as  only  fit  for  a  servile  race,  it  is  him  and  his  «kindrod 
spirits  who  live  upon  the  labor  of  others,  endeavoring  to 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  159 

reduce  the  white  laborer  to  the  condition  of  the  slave. 
They  do  not  yet  claim  him  as  property,  but  they  would 
exclude  him  from  all  participation  in  the  public  affairs  of 
the  country.  It  is  further  said,  that  if  the  negroes  were 
free,  the  black  would  rival  the  white  laborer  in  the  free 
States.  I  can  not  believe  it  while  so  many  facts  exist  to 
to  prove  the  contrary.  Negroes,  like  the  white  race, 
but  with  stronger  feelings,  are  attached  to  the  place  of 
their  birth,  and  the  home  of  their  youth  ;  and  the  climate 
of  the  South  is  congenial  to  their  natures,  more  than  that 
of  the  North.  If  emancipation  should  take  place  at  the 
South  and  the  negroes  be  freed  from  the  fear  of  being  made 
merchandize,  they  would  remove  from  the  free  States  of  the 
North  and  "West,  and  immediately  return  to  that  country, 
because  it  is  the  home  of  their  friends  and  fathers. 
Already  in  Ohio,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  has 
free  white  labor,  (emigrants,)  from  foreign  countries, 
engrossed  almost  entirely  all  situations  in  which  male  or 
female  labor  is  found.  But,  Sir,  this  plea  of  necessity  and 
convenience  is  the  plea  of  tyrants.  Has  not  the  free 
black  person  the  same  right  to  the  use  of  his  hands  as  the 
white  person ;  the  same  right  to  contract  and  labor  for 
what  price  he  pleases  ?  Would  the  gentleman  extend  the 
power  of  the  government  to  the  regulation  of  the  pro- 
ductive industry  of  the  country  ?  This  was  his  former 
theory,  but  put  down  effectually  by  the  public  voice. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  prejudice  against  labor,  the 
attempt  is  now  being  made  to  begin  this  same  system,  by 
first  operating  on  the  poor  black  laborer.  For  shame ! 
let  us  cease  from  attempts  of  this  kind. 

The  Senator  informs  us  that  the  question  was  asked 
fifty  years  ago  that  is  now  asked,  can  the  negro  be  con- 
tinued forever  in  bondage?  Yes;  and  it  will  continue  to 
be  asked,  in  still  louder  and  louder  tones.  But,  says  the 
Senator,  we  are  yet  a  prosperous  and  happy  nation. 
Pray,  Sir,  in  what  part  of  your  country  do  you  find  this 


160  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


prosperity  and  happiness  ?  In  the  slave  States  ?  No ! 
no  !  There  all  is  weakness,  gloom,  and  despair ;  while  in 
the  free  States,  all  is  light,  business,  and  activity.  What 
has  created  the  astonishing  difference  between  the  gen- 
tleman's State  and  mine  —  between  Kentucky  and  Ohio  ? 
Slavery,  the  withering  curse  of  slavery,  is  upon  Ken- 
tucky, while  Ohio  is  free.  Kentucky — the  garden  of  the 
"West,  almost  the  land  of  promise,  possessing  all  the 
natural  advantages,  and  more  than  is  possessed  by  Ohio — 
is  vastly  behind  in  population  and  wealth.  Sir,  I  can  see 
from  the  windows  of  my  upper  chamber,  in  the  city  of 
Cincinnati,  lands  in  Kentucky,  which,  I  am  told,  can  be  pur- 
chased from  ten  to  fifty  dollars  per  acre ;  while  lands  of  the 
same  quality,  under  the  same  improvements,  and  the  same 
distance  from  me  in  Ohio,  would  probably  sell  from  one 
to  five  hundred  dollars  per  acre.  I  was  told  by  a  friend, 
a  few  days  before  I  left  home,  who  had  formerly  resided 
in  the  county  of  Bourbon,  Kentucky — a  most  excellent 
county  of  lands  adjoining,  I  believe,  the  county  in  which 
the  Senator  resides — that  the  white  population  of  that 
county  was  more  than  four  hundred  less  than  it  was  five 
years  since.  Will  the  Senator  contend,  after  a  knowledge 
of  these  facts,  that  slavery  in  this  country  has  been  the 
cause  of  our  prosperity  and  happiness  ?  No,  he  can  not. 
It  is  because  slavery  has  been  excluded  and  driven  from 
a  large  proportion  of  our  country,  that  we  are  a  prosper- 
ous and  happy  people.  But  its  late  attempts  to  force ' 
its  influence  and  power  into  the  free  States,  and  deprive 
our  citizens  of  their  unquestionable  rights,  has  been  the 
moving  cause  of  all  the  riots,  burnings,  and  murders  that 
have  taken  place  on  account  of  Abolitionism ;  and  it  has, 
in  some  degree,  even  in  the  free  States,  caused  mourning, 
lamentation  and  woe.  Kemove  slavery,  and  the  country, 
the  whole  country,  will  recover  its  natural  vigor,  and  our  j 
peace  and  future  prosperity  will  be  placed  on  a  more 
extensive,  safe,  and  sure  foundation.  It  is  a  waste  of  time ; 


LIFE   OF   SENATOR  MORRIS.  161 

to  answer  the  allegations  that  the  emancipation  of  the 
negro  race  would  induce  them  to  make  war  on  the  white 
race.  Every  fact  in  the  history  of  emancipation  proves 
the  reverse  :  and  he  that  will  not  believe  those  facts,  has 
darkened  his  own  understanding,  that  the  light  of  reason 
can  make  no  impression ;  he  appeals  to  interest,  not  to 
truth,  for  information  on  this  subject.  We  do  not  fear 
his  errors,  while  we  are  left  free  to  combat  them.  The 
Senator  implores  us  to  cease  all  commotion  on  this  sub- 
ject. Are  we  to  surrender  all  our  rights  and  privileges, 
all  the  official  stations  of  the  country  into  the  hands  of 
the  slaveholding  power,  without  a  single  struggle?  Are 
we  to  cease  all  exertions  for  our  own  safety,  and  submit 
in  quiet  to  the  rule  of  this  power  ?  Is  the  calm  of  despot- 
ism to  reign  over  this  land,  and  the  voice  of  freedom  to 
be  no  more  heard  ?  This  sacrifice  is  required  of  us,  in 
order  to  sustain  slavery.  Freemen,  will  you  make  it? 
Will  you  shut  your  ears  and  your  sympathies,  and  with- 
hold from  the  poor,  famished  slave,  a  morsel  of  bread  ? 
Can  you  thus  act,  and  expect  the  blessings  of  Heaven  upon 
your  country?  I  beseech  you  to  consider  for  yourselves. 
Mr.  President — I  have  been  compelled  to  enter  into 
this  discussion  from  the  course  pursued  by  the  Senate  on 
the  resolutions  I  submitted  a  few  days  since.  The  cry  of 
Abolitionist  has  been  raised  against  me.  If  those  resolu- 
tions are  Abolitionism,  then  I  am  an  Abolitionist  from  the 
sole  of  my  foot  to  the  crown  of  my  head.  If  to  maintain 
the  rights  of  the  States,  the  security  of  the  citizen  from 
violence  and  outrage ;  if  to  preserve  the  supremacy  of 
the  laws ;  if  insisting  on  the  right  of  petition,  a  medium 
through  which  every  person  subject  to  the  laws  has  an 
undoubted  right  to  approach  the  Constitutional  authori- 
ties of  the  country — be  the  doctrines  of  Abolitionists,  it 
finds  a  response  in  every  beating  pulse  of  my  veins. 
Neither  power,  nor  favor,  nor  want,  nor  misery,  shall 
14 


162  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

deter  me  from  its  support  while  the  vital  current  con- 
tinues to  flow. 

Condemned  at  home  for  my  opposition  to  slavery,  alone 
and  single  handed  here,  well  may  I  feel  tremor  and  emo- 
tion in  bearding  this  lion  of  slavery  in  his  very  den  and 
upon  his  own  ground.  I  should  shrink,  Sir,  at  once,  from 
this  fearful  and  unequal  contest,  was  I  not  thoroughly 
convinced  that  I  am  sustained  by  the  power  of  truth  and 
the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

I  listened  to  the  Senator  of  Kentucky  with  undivided 
attention.  I  was  disappointed,  sadly  disappointed.  I 
had  heard  of  the  Senator's  tact  in  making  compromises 
and  agreements  on  this  floor,  and  though  opposed  in  prin- 
ciple to  all  such  proceedings,  yet  I  hoped  to  hear  some- 
thing upon  which  we  could  hang  a  hope  that  peace  would 
be  restored  to  the  borders  of  our  own  States,  and  all 
future  aggression  upon  our  citizens  from  the  free  States 
be  prevented.  Now,  Sir,  he  offers  us  nothing  but  uncon- 
ditional submission  to  political  death ;  and  not  political 
alone,  but  absolute  death.  "We  have  counted  the  cost  in 
this  matter,  and  are  determined  to  live  or  die  free. 

Let  the  slaveholder  hug  his  system  to  his  bosom  in  his 
own  State,  we  will  not  go  there  to  disturb  him ;  but,  Sir, 
within  our  own  borders  we  claim  to  enjoy  the  same  priv- 
ileges. Even,  Sir,  here  in  this  District,  this  ten  miles 
square  of  common  property  and  common  right,  the  slave 
power  has  the  assurance  to  come  into  this  very  Hall,  and 
request  that  we — yes,  Mr.  President,  that  my  constitu- 
ents—  be  denied  the  right  of  petition  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  this  District.  This  most  extraordinary  peti- 
tion against  the  right  of  others  to  petition  on  the  same 
subject  as  theirs,  is  graciously  received  and  ordered  to  be 
printed,  paeans  sung  to  it  by  the  slave  power ;  while  the 
petitions  I  offer,  from  as  honorable,  free,  high-minded  and 
patriotic  American  citizens  as  any  in  this  District,  are 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  163 

spit  upon,  and  turned  out  of  doors  as  an  unclean  thing ! 
Genius  of  liberty !  how  long  will  you  sleep  under  this 
iron  power  of  oppression  ?  Not  content  with  ruling  over 
their  own  slaves,  they  claim  the  power  to  instruct  Con- 
gress on  the  question  of  receiving  petitions  ;  and  yet  we 
are  tauntingly  and  sneeringly  told  that  we  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  existence  of  slavery  in  the  country,  a  sug- 
gestion as  absurd  as  it  is  ridiculous.  We  are  called  upon 
to  make  laws  in  favor  of  slavery  in  the  District,  but  it  is 
denied  that  we  can  make  laws  against  it ;  and  at  last  the 
right  of  petition  on  the  subject,  by  the  people  of  the  free 
States,  is  complained  of  as  an  improper  interference.  I 
leave  it  to  the  Senator  to  reconcile  all  these  difficulties, 
absurdities,  claims  and  requests  of  the  people  of  this  Dis- 
trict, to  the  country  at  large  ;  and  I  venture  the  opinion 
that  he  will  find  as  much  difficulty  in  producing  the  belief 
that  he  is  correct  now,  as  he  has  found,  in  obtaining  the 
same  belief,  that  he  was  before  correct,  in  his  views  and 
political  course  on  the  subject  of  banks,  internal  improve- 
ments, protective  tariff,  etc.,  and  the  regulation,  by  acts 
)f  Congress,  of  the  productive  industry  of  the  country, 
together  with  all  compromises  and  coalitions  he  has 
entered  into  for  the  attainment  of  those  objects.  I  rejoice, 
iiowever,  that  the  Senator  has  made  the  display  he  has 
}n  this  occasion.  It  is  a  powerful  shake  to  awaken  the 
ileeping  energies  of  liberty,  and  his  voice,  like  a  trum- 
pet, will  call  from  their  slumbers,  millions  of  freemen,  to 
defend  their  rights ;  and  the  overthrow  of  his  theory 
now,  is  as  sure  and  certain,  by  the  force  of  public  opinion, 
as  was  the  overthrow  of  all  his  former  schemes,  by  the 
same  mighty  power. 

I  feel,  Mr.  President,  as  if  I  had  wearied  your  patience, 
while  I  am  sure  my  own  bodily  powers  admonish  me  to 
close ;  but  I  can  not  do  so,  without  again  reminding  my 
constituents  of  the  greetings  that  have  taken  place  on  the 
consummation  and  ratification  of  the  treaty,  offensive  and 


164  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

defensive,  between  the  slaveholding  and  bank  powers,  in 
order  to  carry  on  a  war  against  the  liberties  of  our  coun- 
try, and  to  put  down  the  present  administration.  Yes, 
there  is  no  voice  heard  from  New  England  now.  Boston 
and  Faneuil  Hall  are  silent  as  death.  The  free  day-laborer 
is,  in  prospect,  reduced  to  the  political,  if  not  moral,  condi- 
tion of  the  slave ;  an  ideal  line  is  to  divide  them  in  their 
labor ;  yes  !  the  same  principle  is  to  govern  on  both  sides. 
Even  the  farmer,  too,  will  soon  be  brought  into  the  same 
fold.  It  will  be  again  said,  with  regard  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  "  The  farmer  with  his  huge  paws 
upon  the  statute  book,  what  can  he  do?  "  I  have  endea- 
vored to  warn  my  fellow-citizens  of  the  present  and 
approaching  danger,  but  the  dark  cloud  of  slavery  is 
before  their  eyes,  and  prevents  many  of  them  from  see- 
ing the  condition  of  things  as  they  are.  That  cloud,  like 
the  cloud  of  summer,  will  soon  pass  away,  and  its  thun- 
ders cease  to  be  heard.  Slavery  will  come  to  an  end,  and 
the  sunshine  of  prosperity  warm,  invigorate  and  bless 
our  whole  country. 

I  do  not  know,  Mr.  President,  that  my  voice  will  ever 
again  be  heard  on  this  floor.  I  now  willingly,  yes,  gladly 
return  to  my  constituents,  to  the  people  of  my  own  State. 
I  have  spent  my  life  among  them,  and  the  greater  portion 
of  it  in  their  service,  and  they  have  bestowed  upon  me 
their  confidence  in  numerous  instances.  I  feel  perfectly 
conscious  that,  in  the  discharge  of  every  trust  which  they 
have  committed  to  me,  I  have,  to  the  best  of  my  abilities, 
acted  solely  with  a  view  to  the  general  good,  not  suffering 
myself  to  be  influenced  by  any  particular  or  private 
interest  whatever  ;  and  I  now  challenge  those  who  think 
I  have  done  otherwise,  to  lay  their  finger  upon  any  pub- 
lic act  of  mine,  and  prove  to  the  country  its  injustice  or 
anti-republican  tendency.  That  I  have  often  erred  in  the 
selection  of  means  to  accomplish  important  ends,  I  have 
no  doubt;  but  my  belief  in  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  of 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  165 

the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  political  creed  of 
President  Jefferson,  remains  unshaken  and  unsubdued. 
My  greatest  regret  is  that  I  have  not  been  more  zealous, 
and  done  more  for  the  cause  of  individual  and  political 
liberty  than  I  have  done.  I  hope,  on  returning  to  my 
home  and  my  friends,  to  join  them  again  in  rekindling 
the  beacon-fires  of  liberty  upon  every  hill  in  our  State, 
until  their  broad  glare  shall  enlighten  every  valley,  and 
the  song  of  triumph  will  soon  be  heard ;  for  the  hearts  of 
our  people  are  in  the  hands  of  a  just  and  holy  Being, 
(who  can  not  look  upon  oppression  but  with  abhorrence), 
and  he  can  turn  them  whithersoever  he  will,  as  the  rivers 
of  water  are  turned.  Though  our  national  sins  are  many 
and  grievous,  yet  repentance,  like  that  of  ancient  Nine- 
veh, may  divert  from  us  that  impending  danger  which 
seems  to  hang  over  our  heads  as  by  a  single  hair.  That 
all  may  be  safe,  I  conclude  that  THE  NEGRO  WILL  YET  BE 
SET  FKEE. 

This  noble  Speech  startled  the  Senate,  and  produced  a 
marked  sensation  throughout  the  country.  A  Southern 
Senator  arose,  and  said,  Mr.  Morris  deserved  expulsion 
from  the  Senate,  that  his  presence  there  was  contami- 
nation ;  and  he  soiled  the  very  carpet  on  which  he  stood. 
The  Legislature  of  Yirginia,  suggested  that  Ohio's  Senator 
be  expelled. 

The  friends  of  freedom,  however,  hailed  the  speech  with 
delight.  Numerous  Conventions  passed  resolutions,  com- 
mending his  Koman  integrity  and  firmness.  He  received 
numerous  letters,  saying  :  "  Tour  very  able  and  timely 
speech,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Clay,  will  be  remembered  with 
gratitude  by  millions  till  the  end  of  time."  "  You  are 
regarded  as  the  chief  defender  of  the  liberty  of  speech, 
of  the  right  of  petition,  and  freedom  of  debate,  among 
all  the  Senators  who  compose  that  august  Body." 

"  We  beg  the  reader,"  said  a  paper,  "  will  not  throw 


166  LIFE     OV     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

down  this  splendid  speech  unread,  because  it  is  a  long 
one.  Read  it  attentively,  and  then  say  what  paragraph 
might  have  been  omitted.  We  have  read  it  three  times, 
with  profit  and  pleasure.  It  embraces,  as  will  be  seen, 
a  recapitulation  of  all  the  arguments  in  Mr.  Clay's  cele- 
brated speech  in  favor  of  slavery,  and  is  a  capital  expose 
of  the  whole  budget  of  fine-spun  fallacies  brought  forward 
by  the  Kentucky  slaveholder.  Mr.  Morris  could  not  have 
chosen  a  better  topic  for  a  valedictory  speech  on  the  eve 
of  his  retirement  from  the  Senate.  We  have  for  years 
held  this  man  in  high  regard.  His  profession  of  Democ- 
racy amounts  to  something  more  than  enrollment.  He 
has  no  need  to  advertise  the  public  of  his  political  creed, 
so  far,  at  least,  as  concerns  the  great  question  of  human 
rights.  The  old  painters,  in  the  imperfection  of  their 
art,  were  wont  to  underwrite  upon  their  canvass, "  this  is  a 
horse  "  —  "  that  is  a  lion."  Morris  needs  no  label.  He 
stands  confessed  the  lion  of  the  day." 

"  When  Mr.  Morris  began  his  speech,  the  audience  was 
small,  as  Mr.  Webster  had  attracted  the  great  and  fash- 
ionable to  hear  his  argument  before  the  Supreme  Court 
in  another  wing  of  the  Capitol ;  but  before  Morris  had 
proceeded  far,  the  tide  set  the  other  way,  and  soon  he 
had  the  Senate-chamber  crowded  to  listen  to  his  noble 
speech! " 

Almost  all  the  Senators  who  participated  in  that  memo- 
rable debate  are  dead.  Calhoun  lies  in  his  own  grave- 
yard, in  the  State  which  he  loved  so  passionately,  and  to 
whose  interests,  his  logical  and  masterly  intellect  and 
energies  were  devoted.  The  imperial  Webster,  whose 
massive  mind,  and  rich  intellectual  resources  are  the  glory 
of  his  country,  rests  in  his  home  farm,  in  Marshfield, 
Massachusetts.  His  name  has  lost  the  prestige  of  its 
former  power  and  glory,  because,  on  several  occasions,  he 
declined  to  defend,  by  his  eminent  abilities,  the  cause  of 
freedom.  Clay,  the  idol  of  his  party,  and  ever  potential 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  167 

in  the  politics  and  civil  councils  of  his  country,  was  borne 
in  a  funeral  pageant,  from  the  Capital  of  the  Nation, 
where  he  died,  to  the  shades  of  Ashland,  Kentucky, 
where  he  sleeps  in  death.  A  son  of  Kentucky,  himself 
an  ardent  admirer  of  Mr.  Clay,  says  :  "  Strong  consider- 
ations would  restrain  me  from  undervaluing  his  work, 
but  some  of  the  measures  he  originated  and  pursued  with 
ceasless  toil,  are  cast  aside  as  obsolete  ideas,  his  party  is 
disbanded,  the  talismanic  charm  of  his  name  is  power- 
less, and  it  will  remain  for  future  ages  to  decide  how  great 
and  enduring  his  influence  shall  be." 

Morris  also  is  dead.  He  rests  in  the  free  soil  of  Ohio, 
(buried  in  a  spot  of  ground  consecrated  to  freedom  by  a 
special  Act,)  a  State,  of  which  it  was  a  passion  of  his 
nature  to  love,  and  to  whose  welfare  he  devoted  the  ener- 
gies of  a  long  life  ;  closing  his  last  official  efforts  for  Ohio 
and  his  country,  by  this  speech  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States ;  but  the  great  principles  enunciated,  and 
so  fearlessly  maintained  in  it,  still  live  and  will  live 

forever. 

• 

"  Truth  crushed  to  earth,  will  rise  again, 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers 
While  error  writhing  in  her  pains, 
Shall  die  amid  her  worshipers." 


168 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MOBBIS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


VARIOUS  Resolutions  offered  on  Slavery — Refused  Printing — Opinion  of 
a  Southern  Senator — A  Northern  Senator — Social  and  Civil  Proscrip- 
tions of  Anti-Slavery  Senators. 

THE  vigilant  watchfulness  of  Mr.  Morris,  in  reference 
to  the  spirit  and  aggression  of  the  slave  power,  was 
developed  in  his  efforts,  to  test  the  view  of  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  on  its  growing  pretensions  and  power. 
It  demanded  not  only  security  and  protection  from  the 
Government,  within  its  own  limits,  but  also,  complete 
exemption  from  discussion  in  and  out  of  Congress ;  nor 
would  it  permit  any  examination  of  the  system  of  slavery. 
The  pro-slavery  sentiment,  so  entirely  triumphant  in  Con- 
gress, was  subjected  to  a  new  development  in  the  Senate, 
through  the  vigilant  efforts  of  Mr.  Morris.  On  the  5th 
of  February,  1839,  he  offered  for  the  consideration  of  the 
Senate,  the  following  resolutions  : 

WHEREAS,  the  right  and  privilege  of  petition  is  an 
existing  principle,  established  by  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
is  designed  to  be  exercised  not  for  opposition  or  resistance 
but  to  obtain  relief  or  favor ;  and  this  right,  when  the 
people  peaceably  exercise  it,  is  placed  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  above  the  power  of  legislative 
bodies,  who  can  not  rightfully  control  the  time,  or  the 
manner,  or  the  matter,  in  or  for  which,  the  people  shall 
petition.  And,  whereas,  recent  events  in  Congress,  on 
this  important  subject,  render  it  doubtful,  how  far  that 
body  consider  the  people  justifiable,  in  the  exercise  of  \ 
this  right,  especially  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  the  slave 
trade,  and  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  and  since,  upon  all 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  169 

subjects,  on  which  legislative  bodies  may  Constitutionally 
act,  it  seems  clear  that  every  intelligent  being,  who  is    *\, 
subject  to  this  action,  ought  to  enjoy  the  right  of  petition 
to  the  fullest  extent.          - 

Resolved,  therefore,  That  as  the.  people  of  the  United 
States,  or  certain  portions  of  them,  claim  to  have  an 
undeniable  right  to  petition  Congress  to  abolisk  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  to  suppress  the  jrilave  trade 
therein,  and  between  the  different  States  and  Territories 
of  the  United  States  ;  or  between  any  of  the  States  and 
the  Eepublic  of  Texas  ;  and  against  the  admission  of  any 
new  State  into  the  Union  whose  Constitution  permits  or 
tolerates  slavery ;  in  as  full,  free  and  ample  manner,  as 
they  can  exercise  this  right  on  any  other  subject ;  it  is 
therefore  expedient,  that  all  petitions,  on  the  aforesaid 
subjects,  or  any  of  them,  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary,  which  committee  is  instructed  to  inquire 
into  and  report  to  the  Senate,  their  opinion  on  the  follow- 
ing points : 

First)  Whether  the  people  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
portion  of  them,  have  an  indisputable  right  to  petition 
Congress  on  the  subjects,  or  any  of  them,  mentioned  in 
the  foregoing  resolution. 

Second,  Whether  Congress,  possess  the  power  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Third,  Whether  Congress  possess  the  power  to  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States. 

Fourth,  Whether  Congress  have  power  to  create,  intro- 
duce, or  establish  slavery,  in  any  territory  acquired  by 
the  United  States,  in  which  slavery  did  not  exist  at  the 
time  the  United  States  became  possessed  thereof. 

Fifth,  Whether  Congress  have  the  power  and  ought  to 
restrain  or  abridge  any  Constitutional  right  of  the  citi- 
zens, because  the  exercise  of  such  right  may  tend,  by 
calling  in  question  the  justice  and  policy  of  slavery,  to 
weaken  or  abolish  that  system  in  any  of  the  States. 
15 


170  LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Sixth,  Whether  Congress  in  any  case  can,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  Constitutionally  restrain  or  abridge  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  or  of  speech,  or  the  right  of  petition. 

Seventh,  "Whether  Congress  have  power  to  provide  for 
the  safety  and  protection  of  persons  and  property  of  the 
citizens  of  one  State,  from  violence  and  injury  being  done 
such  citizens  or  their  property,  in  another  State;  and 
also  to  protect  the  citizens  of  any  State,  who  think 
proper,  within  their  own  State,  to  speak,  write,  print,  and 
publish  their  opinions  against  the  political,  moral,  or 
religious  institutions  of  another  State,  from  trial  and  pun- 
ishment in  the  State  whose  institutions  such  speaking, 
writing,  printing  and  publishing  were  designed  to  affect. 

Eighth,  Whether  Congress  have  power  to  declare  what 
shall  or  shall  not  be,  made  property  in  any  of  the  States. 

Ninth,  Whether  Congress  have  power  to  authorize  the 
sale  of  slaves  as  property,  to  discharge  a  judgment  in 
favor  of  the  United  States. 

Tenth,  Whether  a  removal  of  the  Seat  of  Government 
into  a  State  in  which  slavery  does  not  exist,  would  not  be 
expedient,  consistent  with  sound  policy,  and  promote  the 
quiet,  safety,  and  interest  of  the  country. 

Resolved,  further,  That  as  Congress  has  no  power  over 
the  persons  of  slaves  as  property,  in  any  State,  or  the 
subject  of  slavery  therein,  a  retrocession  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  to  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  ought 
to  be  made,  to  prevent,  or  take  away,  the  exercise  of  such 
power  in  the  District. 

Resolved,  further,  That  it  belongs  exclusively  to  the 
States  in  this  Union,  to  provide  that  a  person  who  may  be 
held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws 
thereof,  and  who  shall  escape  into  another  State,  shall  be 
delivered  up  by  such  State  to  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  may  be  due;  and  that  the  States,  as 
parties  to  the  compact  of  Union,  are  in  good  faith  bound 
to  make  such  provision. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  171 

* 

Resolved,  That  Congress  have  not  the  power  to  author- 
ize or  permit  a  person  to  take  into,  or  to  hold,  as  property, 
in  any  State,  that  which  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  such 
State  declare  shall  not  be  held  as  property  therein ;  but 
the  citizens  of  each  State  ought  to  be  protected  in  the 
several  States,  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  privileges  and 
immunities  that  citizens  of  the  State  are  entitled  to,  and 
none  other. 

Resolved,  That  it  would  be  expedient  and  proper  for 
Congress  to  ascertain  the  number  of  slaves  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  the  extent  of  the  slave  trade  carried  on 
therein,  and  from  the  District ;  whether  such  slaves  are 
purchased  in  the  District,  or  bought  within  the  same  from 
the  States,  for  exportation,  and  how  many  have  been  taken 
from  the  District  within  the  last  two  years,  for  sale,  and 
to  what  market  they  were  taken,  whether  within  or 
without  the  United  States. 

A  year  previous  to  the  introduction  of  the  foregoing 
resolutions,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1838,  Mr.  Morris 
offered  the  following : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  be 
instructed  to  inquire,  whether  the  present  laws  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  trade,  will 
prohibit  that  trade  being  carried  on  between  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  the  citizens  of  the  Kepublic  of 
Texas,  whether  by  land  or  sea ;  and  whether  it  would  be 
lawful  in  vessels  owned  by  citizens  of  that  Kepublic,  and 
not  lawful  in  vessels  owned  by  citizens  of  this,  or  lawful 
in  both,  and  by  citizens  of  both  countries ;  and  also, 
whether  a  slave  carried  from  the  United  States,  into  a 
foreign  country,  and  brought  back  or  returning  into  the 
United  States,  is  considered  a  free  person,  or  is  liable  to 
be  sent  back,  if  demanded,  as  a  slave  into  that  country 
from  which  he  or  she  in  the  past  came ;  and  also,  whether 
any  additional  legislation  by  Congress  is  necessary  on 
any  of  these  subjects. 


172  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

When  read,  a  Southern  Senator  (Mr.  Foster)  expressed 
his  surprise,  that  the  Senate  had  not  the  power,  by  an 
instantaneous  vote,  to  refuse  even  to  receive  such  reso- 
lutions. 

A  Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  Mr.  Hubbard,  said, 

"  it  was  a  matter  of  policy  to  let  the  whole  subject  alone. 
These  resolutions  have  been  fully  discussed  through  the 
public  press ;  and  notwithstanding  their  author  has 
received  the  most  unmerited  abuse  from  public  journals, 
yet  he  was  free  to  say,  that  he  most  sincerely  concurred 
with  his  friend,  Mr.  Morris,  in  every  sentiment  expressed 
by  him,  in  these  resolutions ;  and  he  might  add  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  constituents  of  his  friend,  (he  had 
reason  to  believe,)  were  prepared  fully  to  sustain  him  in 
the  course  he  had  pursued  on  this  subject." 

Mr.  Buchanan  said,  "  He  should  vote  against  the  prop- 
osition to  lay  upon  the  table.  From  his  whole  course  on 
the  subject  of  these  Abolition  petitions,  he  supposed  no 
person  would  suspect  him  of  being  friendly  to  them,  or  to 
their  objects.  But  fair  play  is  a  jewel ;  and  he  thought 
the  Senator  from  Ohio,  (Mr.  Morris,)  had  a  right  to  be 
heard,  and  to  reply  to  the  remarks  that  were  made  in  the 
Senate  on  this  subject  yesterday." 

Mr.  Hubbard  said:  "  That  there  was  no  want  of  "fair 
play  !  "  The  Senator  from  Ohio,  by  this  motion,  is  not 
precluded  from  offering  his  views  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  This  right  he  has,  this  privilege  he  now  enjoys, 
if  he  chooses  to  exercise  it.  No  rule  of  the  Senate  could 
prevent  him  from  going  fully  into  the  subject  of  slavery 
at  any  time. 

Mr.  Morris  said  :  "  He  felt  very  much  obliged  to  th«  Sen- 
ator from  New  Hampshire  for  the  information,  that  he  had 
the  same  right  as  any  other  Senator  to  express  his  opinions  on  sub- 
jects brought  before  the  Senate.  He  supposed  he  ought 
to  tender  his  profound  thanks  for  this  gracious  privilege." 
The  resolutions  were  refused  to  be  entertained  or  printed. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  173 

Mr.  Morris,  by  his  fearless  defense  of  freedom,  and  bold 
denunciations  of  Slavery,  did  not  lose  political  or  social 
caste  among  his  co-Senators.  At  each  session  of  Congress 
he  served  on  important  Committees,  such  as  the  Judiciary 
and  Agricultural,  and  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Pensions.  Southern  Senators,  treated  him  with  the 
urbanity  of  gentlemen,  and  admitted  his  honesty  and 
admired  his  fearlessness.  A  Senator  from  Georgia, 
remarked  to  him,  that  if  it  was  known  who  he  was,  he 
might  travel  with  safety  through  his  State,  though  holding 
and  proclaiming  the  sentiments  he  then  did  on  the  subject 
of  slavery. 

A  change  has  come  over  the  spirit  and  action  of  the 
slave  Power.  Now,  its  imperious  authority,  disregard- 
ing the  rules  of  Parliamentary  right  and  justice,  declares 
certain  Senators,  eminent  for  talents  and  patriotism,  "  to 
belong  to  an  unhealthy  political  organization,"  and  for- 
bids them  a  place  on  Senatorial  Committees.  Seward 
from  New  York ;  Chase  and  "Wade,  from  Ohio ;  Sumner 
and  Wilson,  from  Massachusetts  ;  Hale,  from  New  Hamp- 
shire ;  Collamer,  from  Vermont ;  Trumbell,  from  Illinois ; 
Durkee,  from  Wisconsin,  and  others ;  statesmen  of  emi- 
nent abilities,  and  of  exalted  patriotism  and  purity  in 
public  and  private  character  and  life,  have  been  proscribed 
by  a  pro-slavery  Senate  from  their  Constitutional  privi- 
leges, and  from  the  social  urbanities  of  pro-slavery  Sena- 
tors. Persecution,  for  righteousness,  and  for  freedom's 
sake,  is  no  novelty  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The  days 
of  the  martyrs  are  not  ended.  Let  the  freemen  of  the 
nation  embalm  these,  and  other  champions  of  freedom  in 
grateful  and  perpetual  remembrance. 

• 

"  In  Freedom's  field  advancing  their  firm  feet 
They  plant  them  on  the  line  that  Justice  draws, 
And  will  prevail  or  perish  in  her  cause !  " 


174 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ALLIANCE  of  Democracy  with  the  Slave  Power — Degeneracy  in  a  great 
party  a  great  calamity  —  Resolutions  of  the  Democracy  of  Cincin- 
nati, on  the  8th  of  January,  1839  —  Mr.  Morris's  Answer — Letter 
from  A.  A.  Guthrie,  3d  of  January,  1839— Mr.  Morris's  Reply— Ver- 
mont Resolutions  refused  to  be  Printed — Predictions  fulfilled. 

ARDENT,  and  consistent,  in  his  devotion  to  the  principles 
of  true  Democracy,  it  was  a  source  of  profound  sorrow  to 
Mr.  Morris,  to  see  the  party,  with  which  he  had  so 
long  acted,  yielding  the  purity  and  power  of  their  noble 
principles,  to  the  corrupting  and  contagious  influences  of 
slavery.  Harmonizing,  as  he  believed  they  did,  with  all 
that  is  true  in  political  science,  and  civil  government,  and 
adapted,  in  their  beneficent  action  and  progress,  to  give 
freedom  and  elevation  to  men  and  nations  —  degeneracy 
or  apostacy,  from  these  noble  landmarks  of  freedom,  by  a 
great  and  dominant  party,  is  always  a  great  national 
calamity.  "  A  nation  can  suffer  no  greater  calamity  than 
the  loss  of  its  principles.  Lofty  and  pure  sentiment  is 
the  life  and  hope  of  a  people."  Decay  or  defection  from 
the  vital  principles  of  freedom,  right,  religion,  and  human- 
ity, betokens  the  approach  of  national  ruin.  As  the  sturdy 
oak  when  girdled  must  die,  so  the  nations  that  denounce 
the  principles  of  Christian  rectitude,  and  of  true  Demo- 
cracy, must  tend  to  degeneracy  and  destruction.  "  If  the 
foundations  be  destroyed"  what  hope  is  there  that  the 
stately  temple  of  freedom  can  stand. 

A  great  party,  then,  who  represent  the  beau  ideal  of 
Democracy,  whose  doctrines  have  a  natural  charm  for  the 
popular  ear  and  popular  heart,  and  which  controls  the 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  175 

masses,  and  so  forms  the  resistless  current  of  political 
public  sentiment,  and  directs  political  policy  and  action, 
should  guard  with  watchful  vigilance,  the  integrity  and 
purity  of  its  principles.  Every  interest  and  motive, 
that  clusters  around  patriotism  and  national  honor,  and 
safety,  and  the  hope  of  the  final  freedom  of  the  world, 
from  bondage — demands  of  a  great  party,  whose  creed  is 
truly  Democratic,  to  be  firm  and  loyal  in  their  unfaltering 
fidelity  to  its  fundamental  principles. 

It  was  the  development  of  unhealthy  symptoms,  in 
regard  to  the  disposition  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
country,  to  yield  to  the  usurpations  and  dictations  of  the 
slave  power,  that  went  like  iron,  to  the  free  heart  of 
Thomas  Morris.  With  great  grief  he  heard  the  leaders 
of  the  party  declare,  that  "  Democracy  was  the  natural 
ally  of  the  South,  and  of  slavery ;  "  and  that  the  surest, 
reliable  strength  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  was  found 
in  the  Democratic  party  of  the  free  States.  Both  of  the 
two  great  parties  of  the  country,  Democratic  and  Whig, 
had  succumbed,  in  humble  subserviency  to  the  aggressions 
of  slavery ;  but  to  the  Democratic  party,  with  all  its  noble 
principles  and  professions,  belongs  the  humiliation  of 
yielding  most  to  the  demands  of  the  slave  power,  and 
opening  new  and  wide  fields  for  the  tread  of  the 
oppressor. 

This  policy  had  a  development  during  the  Senatorial 
term  of  Mr.  Morris.  He,  as  a  true  Democrat,  could 
not,  and  did  not,  yield  to  its  influence.  Though  it 
cost  him  the  loss  of  power,  and  banishment  from  his  party, 
yet  he  stood  firm  in  resisting  oppression,  and  in  defense 
of  the  true  doctrines  of  Democracy.  The  following  letter 
was  written,  in  the  midst  of  his  earnest  conflicts  with 
slavery,  in  the  Senate ;  and  addressed  to  a  Democratic 
citizen  of  Cincinnati,  who  had  forwarded  to  him,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  a  meeting  of  some  of  the  Democracy,  who 
approved  his  course  as  a  Senator  of  Ohio. 


176  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

WASHINGTON,  January  15,  1839. 

DEAR  SIR — 1  received  your  favor,  enclosing  the  pro- 
ceedings and  resolutions,  passed  by  a  meeting  of  our 
Democratic  friends  on  the  8th  inst.,  at  the  Lafayette  Hall, 
in  the  city  of  Cincinnati.  For  the  favorable  notice  the 
meeting  was  pleased  to  take  of  my  course  here,  as  Senator, 
and  my  efforts  in  the  support  of  the  Democratic  cause,  tho 
object  of  which  is,  equal  rights  and  impartial  justice, 
the  gentlemen  who  composed  the  meeting,  as  well  as 
yourself,  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you  transmitted 
me  the  proceedings,  will  be  pleased  to  accept  my  grateful 
acknowledgments  and  my  sincere  thanks. 

The  approbation  of  my  Democratic  fellow  citizens,  with 
whom  I  have  personally  acted,  and  to  whom  I  am  indi- 
vidually known,  is  an  honor  which  I  more  highly  prize, 
than  that  which  wealth  and  power  can  bestow.  It  is  my 
highest  ambition,  next  to  a  faithful  and  honest  discharge 
of  duty,  to  preserve  the  favorable  opinion  of  my  friends 
in  the  State,  by  a  constant,  unwavering  adherence  to  Demo- 
cratic principles;  believing  there,  where  they  are  found, 
liberty  is  ;  where  liberty  disappears,  or  is  trodden  down, 
they  are  lost. 

The  time,  the  place,  the  circumstances  under  which  I 
received  the  proceedings  you  enclosed,  were  calculated  to 
make  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind.  Condemned  by  the 
Legislature  of  my  own  State,  as  an  unfit  or  unsafe  Repre- 
sentative of  her  Democratic  principles  in  Congress,  on 
account  (as  I  have  been  infbrnied)  of  my  opposition  to 
slavery,  and  my  defense  of  the  right  of  petition,  the  free- 
dom of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  the  free  use  of  the 
Post-Office  to  Abolitionists,  as  well  as  to  other  men  ;  it  was 
consolatory  to  learn,  that  those  great  principles  are  still 
sustained  and  cherished,  in  her  primary  assemblies,  not 
to  be  abandoned  for  any  local  or  private  interest  whatever. 

Past  experience  has  taught  us  that,  when  liberty  and 
the  Constitutional  rights  of  our  citizens,  or  of  any  portion 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  177 

of  them,  have  been  stricken  down,  in  Legislative  Assem- 
blies, they  have  found  support  in  the  country,  and  are 
resuscitated  and  sustained  by  the  people,  as  common 
rights  and  common  blessings,  which  all  ought  to  enjoy. 
This  reflection  ought  to  fill  the  heart  of  every  friend  to 
his  country,  and  of  the  human  race,  with  the  most  lively 
hope  and  unshaken  confidence,  that  our  Government  rests 
upon  the  most  safe  foundation  which  human  wisdom  can 
devise  ;  and  that  the  privileges  and  rights,  which  it  has 
left  free  and  unrestrained  by  the  power  of  law,  will  remain 
perpetual  with  the  people.  The  people,  and  not  poli- 
ticians, must  be  the  guardians  of  freedom. 

Though  contemned,  I  am  not  convinced,  that,  on  the 
now  agitated  question  of  slavery,  I  am  in  error.  Though 
trodden  down,  I  am  not  discouraged ;  because  I  am  well 
satisfied  that  the  American  people  will  never  consent  that 
the  records  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the 
provisions  of  their  Constitutions,  which  declare  that  the 
natural  rights  of  man  are  inalienable,  shall  be  thrown 
aside,  as  mere  waste  parchment,  and  the  words  therein 
contained  considered  as  mere  rhetorical  flourishes.  No ! 
this  will  never  be  done,  to  sustain  slavery,  or  any  other 
interest,  which  is  at  war  with  the  "general  welfare."  The 
system  of  slavery  is  not  only  at  war  with  such  welfare, 
but  with  the  most  sacred  rights  of  human  nature. 

I  deeply  deplore,  that  that  spirit  of  proscription  for 
opinion's  sake,  which  isn  sometimes  exercised  by  power, 
for  its  own  selfish  purposes,  is  now  stalking  openly  through 
our  country,  with  too  little  rebuke ;  that  it  should  find  its 
way  into  the  Halls  of  Legislation  is  still  more  alarming.  The 
moral  power  of  the  country,  the  expression  of  public  sen- 
timent, is  the  only  weapon  which  can  rightfully  be  used 
against  these  opinions.  The  power  of  the  Government  can 
justly  punish  for  ACTS  done,  but  not  for  opinions  enter- 
tained; and  "error  of  opinion  may  be  safely  tolerated, 
while  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it."  The  countenance 


178  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

given  by  men  in  places  of  power,  and  indeed  their  asser- 
tions made,  that  opinions  adverse  to  slavery  ought  not  to 
be  expressed  or  promulgated,  have  stirred  men,  of  the  baser 
sort,  to  engage  in  mobs,  and  to  use  violence  against  their 
fellow  citizens,  for  no  other  cau$e  than  an  honest  expression 
of  opinion.  Such  transactions  are  not  only  a  libel  on  our 
Government,  a  fatal  stab  aimed  at  the  vital  principles  of 
our  institutions,  and  a  reproach  to  our  people ;  but  they 
have  caused  the  land  to  mourn,  and  weakened  the  confi- 
dence of  our  citizens,  in  those  guarantees  of  person  and 
property,  which  the  Government  affects  to  throw  around 
them. 

To  strike  down  an  individual  by  the  hand  of  another — 
a  politician  by  the  hands  of  politicians — is,  compara- 
tively, nothing ;  the  waves  of  time  soon  close  over  the 
wrong,  and  it  is  forgotten,  and  retributive  justice  may 
overtake  the  wrong-doer.  But  when  Legislative  Assem- 
blies, the  Kulers  of  the  country,  strike  at  principles  on 
which  rest  all  our  invaluable  rights  and  privileges,  the 
blow  vibrates  through  the  whole  nation;  every  person 
feels  its  full  force,  as  much  as  if  aimed  at  himself  singly. 
It  rends  the  political  fabric,  forming  a  chasm  which  time 
seldom  closes. 

These  reflections  will  be  excused,  when  you  remember 
that  my  opinions  have  been  so  arraigned  and  condemned, 
that  they  seem  to  be  unpardonable  political  sins. 

The  decree  of  condemnation  was  first  pronounced 
against  me  in  the  newspapers  of  the  slave  States.  The 
power  which  can  put  a  gag  into  the  mouths  of  members 
of  Congress ;  can  prevent  petitions  being  received  in  one 
branch,  and  can  lay  them  on  the  table  without  further 
action  thereon  in  the  other,  if  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
is  a  power  not  to  be  overlooked  or  disregarded  in  its 
operation  on  the  free  States.  If  it  assumes  to  dictate, 
who  shall  represent  the  States  in  Congress  ?  and  if  such 
dictation  is  submitted  to,  the  so-called  free  States,  instead 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  179 

of  being  independent  and  governing  themselves,  will  be 
governed  by  the  slaves  of  the  other  States,  acting  through 
the  medium  of  their  masters ! 

Do  not  suppose  I  speak  from  any  personal  feeling  on 
this  subject.  No!  I  speak  my  sober  judgment  upon  facts, 
which  almost  daily  transpire  before  the  face  of  the  whole 
country.  What  are  these  facts  ? 

The  President,  (Mr.  VanBuren,)is  claimed,  by  many, 
as  a  Northern  man  with  Southern  principles  and  feelings. 
The  Cabinet  is  composed  of  six  members,  three  from  slave 
States,  and  one  who  wrote  a  book  in  favor  of  Southern 
slavery.  Two-thirds,  then,  of  this  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment, are  in  favor  of  slavery.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  is  composed  of  nine  Judges,  five  of  whom 
are  from  slave  States.  The  President  of  the  Senate,  (Vice 
President  of  the  United  States,)  and  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  are  also  from  slave  States  ;  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Senate  is  from  this  District,  a  slave  country ; 
and  the  Clerk  of  the  House  from  a  slave  State. 

"We  might  reasonably  suppose,  thaj;,  with  all  this  power 
and  patronage  of  the  General  Government  in  their  hands, 
the  slave-holders  ought  to  feel  satisfied,  without  making 
any  further  demands,  for  security  for  their  peculiar  institu- 
tion, on  the  free  States.  But  this  is  not  so.  They  ask  to 
abridge  our  Constitutional  and  undeniable  rights, — the 
liberty  of  speech  and  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition 
on  the  subject  of  slavery, — and  so  far  as  the  General  Gov- 
ernment has  acted,  they  have  obtained  this  also.  Still 
they  are  not  satisfied.  Their  march  is  onward. 

They  enter  the  territories  of  the  free  States,  seize  upon 
the  white  as  well  as  the  black  man,  and  convey  him  into 
their  own  States ;  sometimes  under  pretence  of  law,  at 
others  by  mere  personal  force.  They  confine  our  citizens, 
who  have  not  violated  their  laws,  in  their  jails,  load  them 
with  irons  and  fasten  them  with  chains.  But  they  do  not 
stop  here. 


180  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

The  General  Assemblies  in  the  slave  States  pass  resolu- 
lutions,  and  send  them  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  free 
States,  requiring  such  laws  to  be  passed,  as  they  think,  are 
necessary  for  the  security  and  protection  of  their  slave 
property.  Still,  like  the  grave,  this  slave  power  can  not 
be  satisfied.  Enough  has  not  been  done.  Their  News- 
papers assume  the  prerogative  of  dictating,  who  shall, 
and  who  shall  not  be  elected  to  Congress  in  the  free 
States. 

Are  we  disposed  to  bow  to  any  power  on  earth,  in  obe- 
dience to  these  demands  ?  If  made  by  a  foreign  power,  a 
universal  burst  of  indignation,  from  the  American  people, 
would  answer,  NO !  NEYEK !  Shall  we  not  then  resist 
them,  when  made  by  sister  States,  with  a  view  to  compel 
us  to  uphold  their  "peculiar  institution  "  ?  Resist  them,  NOT 
BY  A  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  UNION;  not  by  Legislative 
resolves  sent  into  the  slave  States ;  not  by  the  physical 
power  of  the  free  States.  No !  not  by  any  of  these  means. 
But  by  the  moral  power  of  TRUTH  and  the  force  of  public 
opinion ;  by  the  BALLOT  BOX,  THAT  HOPE  AND  ROCK  OF 

SALVATION  FOR  THE  FREEDOM  OF  OUR  COUNTRY.      Kesist  the 

aggressions  of  slavery  by  these  means. 

Against  the  further  extension  of  this  slave  power, 
which  I  have  but  faintly  described,  I,  as  a  Senator  here, 
coming  from  a  free  State,  have  constantly  opposed,  by 
my  best  exertions.  I  have  claimed  for  the  free  States  an 
equality  of  official  station  and  influence,  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  General  Government ;  and  I  am  clearly  of 
the  opinion,  that  they  ought  to  possess  the  ascendency, 
because  they  contain  a  majority  of  the  people.  I 
claim  for  my  own  State  absolute  sovereignty,  over  per- 
sons and  things  within  her  jurisdiction  ;  that  neither  shall 
be  abducted  or  carried  away,  without  our  consent,  and  in 
pursuance  of  our  laws.  I  claim,  for  my  fellow  citizens, 
the  full  enjoyment  of  their  Constitutional  rights,  liberty 
of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  the  right  of  petition, 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR   MORRIS.  181 

without  the  fear  of  mobs  or  personal  violence.  I  claim 
for  them  the  peaceable  enjoyment  of  their  fire-sides  and 
their  bed  chambers,  secure  from  the  rude  assaults  of 
slave-hunters  or  slave-dealers. 

"Who  will  stand  by  me  in  support  of  these  claims,  and 
bear  the  reproach  of  being  an  ABOLITIONIST  ?  —  A  name 
now  made  unpopular  by  interest,  misrepresentation,  and 
the  love  of  despotic  power  ;  but  one  WHICH  CHRISTIANITY 

APPROVES,     PHILOSOPHY     RESPECTS,     AND     POSTERITY    WILL 

HONOR.  A  name,  however,  which  has  brought  into  notice 
a  class  of  politicians,  who,  taking  advantage  of  existing 
prejudices  against  the  negro  race,  have  made  many 
believe,  that  Abolitionism  is  destructive  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  country,  and  that  an  Abolitionist  "to  be 
hated  needs  but  to  be  seen!  "  It  is  by  this  class  I  have 
been  charged  with  being  an  Abolitionist,  the  High  Priest 
of  Abolitionism  in  Ohio.  They  have  thus  denied  and 
rejected  all  the  doctrines  and  opinions,  I  have  advanced 
on  this  subject,  and  without  meeting  me  by  argument, 
have  been  able,  by  the  aid  of  the  slavehoiding  power,  to 
strike  me  down  in  your  presence. 

I  have  been  with  you  in  opposition  to  the  power  of 
concentrated  wealth ;  to  Banks  and  systems  that  band 
together  men  in  sustaining  any  particular  or  private 
object,  by  which  they  can  operate  on,  and  control  the 
Legislation  and  government  of  the  county.  I  have  said 
to  you,  that  immediately  after  the  settlement  of  the  Money 
question,  there  was  one  of  far  more  importance  which 
the  people  must  decide  —  the  question  of  equal  rights  and 
civil  liberty,  in  opposition  to  which  would  be  arrayed  the 
whole  force  of  the  slaveholding  power  :  An  interest,  which 
private,  local,  and  arrogant  in  its  nature,  has  united  together 
more  persons  for  selfish  purposes,  and  is  more  powerful 
and  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try, than  Banks  or  any  other  interest,  that  has  ever 
existed  among  us. 


182  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Is  it  for  the  welfare  and  perpetuity  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  United  States,  to  be  governed  by  and  to  sustain 
their  power  ?  Can  they  drive  from  their  ranks  all,  who 
have  contended  against  it,  and  who  oppose  slavery,  and 
still  out-number  their  opponents  at  the  polls?  In  short, 
will  the  Democracy  of  Ohio  support  the  system  of  slavery, 
and  disown  all  who  use  their  moral  influence  and  power 
for  its  extinction?  These  are  grave  considerations, 
which,  I  am  sure,  you  will  give  a  candid  examination 
before  you  join  in  such  a  crusade.  Count  first  the  prob- 
able results  of  such  a  course  ;  and,  if  your  way  is  clearly 
seen,  and  can  promise  safety,  still  it  would  not  be  safe  to 
act.  The  power  of  our  political  opponents  is  not  to  be 
despised.  Their  forces  are  still  unbroken  and  ready  to 
act.  Take  care  then,  that  you  do  not,  for  the  love  of  any 
"peculiar  institution,"  weaken  the  Democratic  party. 

I  shall  soon,  I  hope  be  with  you,  freed  from  the  high 
responsibility  under  which  I  have  been  acting.  I  shall 
then  breath  more  freely  and  deeply  in  the  support  and 
maintenance  of  principles,  which  I  believe  are  essentially 
connected  with  the  peace,  prosperity  and  best  interests  of 
our  country.  I  feel  under  everlasting  obligations  to  my 
Democratic  fellow  citizens  of  Cincinnati,  for  the  kindness 
they  have  shown  me,  during  the  short  time  I  have  been 
a  resident  of  the  city.  I  shall  return  with  augmented 
resolution  to  aid  them  in  sustaining  their  individual  and 
political  rights.  But  still  on  all  occasions,  must  insist,  on 
the  full,  free  use  of  all  my  moral  powers  to  overthrow  slavery 
in  our  country  ;  or  confine  it  strictly  to  its  present  limits ; 
and  wrest  from  it,  if  I  can,  some  portion  of  the  political 
power  of  the  county.  Unless  this  be  done,  I  fear  that  the 
citizens  of  the  free  States  will  neither  enjoy  peace,  nor  safety 
from  the  arrogance  of  its  pretensions,  nor  be  permitted  to  hold 
any  office  under  this  Government,  but  by  its  leave. 
I  am  yours,  with  respect, 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  183 

The  following  letter  to  A.  A.  Guthrie,  of  Putnam,  Ohio, 
will  explain  itself.  On  the  presenting  the  resolutions  of 
the  State  of  Vermont,  Southern  Senators  were  roused  to 
the  highest  state  of  indignation  and  alarm. 

Mr.  Calhoun  regarded  them,  "  as  striking  at  the  very 
foundation  of  the  Union,  and  tending  to  the  overthrow 
of  the  best  hopes  of*  mankind.  The  strongest  minds  of 
the  country  were  carried  away  by  the  Abolition  excite- 
ment. He  was  amazed  to  see  the  Senator  from  Vermont 
pursuing  the  course  he  did."  "  The  progress  of  Aboli- 
tionism must  be  arrested  at  home,  or  the  South  will  take 
care  of  itself." 

Mr.  Lumpkin,  of  Georgia,  declared  "  that  he  felt  no  dis- 
position to  countenance  or  respect  attempts  to  agitate  the 
question  of  slavery,  the  more  because  it  was  brought 
before  the  Senate  by  the  proceedings  of  a  sovereign  State. 
Every  lover  of  this  Union,  should  cease  to  agitate  this 
question.  These  proceedings  are  rapidly  alienating  the 
affections  of  one  portion  of  the  Union  from  another.  We 
should  not  print  these  resolutions,  nor  circulate  anything 
from  this  Senate,  calculated  to  increase  the  excitement 
and  prejudice." 

WASHINGTON,  January  9, 1839. 

DEAR  SIR — I  received  your  letter  of  the  3d  inst.,  to-day 
in  the  Senate,  under  circumstances  calculated  to  make  a 
deep  and  lasting  impression  on  my  mind.  A  vote  had 
just  been  taken  in  the  Senate,  which,  I  am  sure,  once 
understood  by  the  free  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
would  suffuse  their  face  with  shame,  for  the  degradation 
of  the  free  States,  and  their  prostration  at  the  footstool  of 
slavery ;  and  arouse  their  indignation  to  defend  their 
rights  as  citizens,  as  well  as  the  honor  of  their  States. 

One  of  the  Senators  from  Vermont  (Mr.  Prentiss), 
introduced  the  following  resolutions,  passed  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  his  State: 


184  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  That 
our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed,  and  our  Repre- 
sentatives  be  requested,  to  use  their  utmost  efforts  to  pre- 
vent the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  and 
to  procure  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  slave  trade 
between  the  several  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union. 

Resolved,  That  the  adoption  by  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  United  States,  on  the  21st  of  December 
ast,  of  the  resolution  by  which  "all  petitions,  memorials, 
and  papers,  touching  the  abolition  of  slavery,  or  the 
buying,  selling,  or  transferring  of  slaves  in  any  State, 
District,  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  were  laid  on 
the  table,  without  being  debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred, 
was  a  daring  infringement  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
petition,  and  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  ;  and  we  do,  in  the  name  of  the  people 
of  Yermont,  protest  against  the  passage  of  the  same,  or 
any  similar  resolution,  by  the  present  or  any  future  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States. 

Resolved,  That  our  Senators  in  Congress  be  instructed, 
and  our  Representatives  be  requested,  to  present  the  fore- 
going resolutions  to  their  respective  Houses,  and  use 
their  influence  to  carry  the  same  into  effect. 

Resolved,  That  the  Governor  be  requested  to  transmit  a 
copy  of  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  each  of  our  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress. 

STATE  OP  VERMONT,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE'S  OFFICE, 

Montpelier,  November  30.  1838. 

I  certify  the  foregoing  to  be  true  copies  of  resolutions 
passed  by  the  Legislature  of  this  State,  on  the  5th  day  of 
November,  A.D.  1838. 

CHAUNCET  L.  KNAPP, 
Secretary  of  State. 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR     MORRIS.  185 

The  introduction  of  these  resolutions  created  instant 
excitement  among  the  slaveholders  in  the  Senate,  and 
objections  were  made  to  their  reception  ;  but  to  refuse  to 
receive  resolutions  solemnly  passed  by  one  of  the  sove- 
reign States  of  this  Confederacy,  was  a  measure  of  so 
high  and  extravagant  a  character,  that  even  the  slave- 
holding  power,  haughty  as  it  is,  shrunk  back  from  its 
exercise  ;  one  of  them  observing,  that  if  this  was  a  peti- 
tion from  a  poor,  miserable,  individual  fanatic,  he  would 
not  receive  it.  He  thought,  as  it  was  from  a  sovereign 
State,  it  should  be  received  and  laid  on  the  table.  Mr. 
Prentiss  then  moved  it  be  laid  on  the  table  and  printed. 
Arogance  always,  when  checked  in  its  violence,  descends 
to  meanness.  A  division  of  the  question  was  called  for ; 
the  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  agreed  to ;  and  the  whole 
slaveholding  and  slave-loving  power  of  the  Senate 
exploded  its  indignation  by  refusing  to  PRINT. 

Yes !  the  slaveholding  power  of  the  country  com- 
manded that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  should  not 
print  the  resolutions  of  a  sovereign  State,  instructing 
their  own  delegation  in  Congress ;  and  the  Senate  obeyed. 
When  that  vote  was  taken,  my  colleague  (Hon.  William 
Allen),  whose  name  was  called  first,  voted  against  the 
printing.  Ah !  thought  I,  and  you,  too,  Ohio !  you,  who 
owe  all  your  wealth  and  your  prosperity  to  your  free 
institutions !  the  land  which  slavery,  as  yet,  has  never 
polluted !  the  country  within  which  neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude  can  exist,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime,  and  whose  Constitution  declares  all  men  are 
born  equally  free  and  independent!  Yes,  Ohio!  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation,  subjecting  her  own  principles  and 
her  own  Constitution  to  be  trodden  down  as  "worthless 
parchment,"  under  the  foot  of  slavery.  It  was  a  degrada- 
tion which  I  could  not  have  anticipated,  and  one  which  I 
would  gladly  have  been  spared  the  mortification  of  wit- 
nessing. 

16 


186  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

I  retired  to  my  room,  after  this  attempt  at  foul  murder 
of  State  rights,  and  that,  too,  by  men  who  profess  to  hold 
them  inviolate.  I  took  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
to  examine,  once  more,  the  wrongs  done  the  Colonies,  and 
see  if  any  therein  enumerated,  exceeded  that  of  the  con- 
tempt offered  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  the 
sovereignty  of  a  State ;  or  if  the  slaveholding  power  was 
not  inflicting  greater  injuries  upon  the  free  States,  than 
the  British  King  had  inflicted  on  the  Colonies.  Let  any 
one,  who  will  remove  the  blackness  of  a  negro's  skin  from 
before  his  eyes,  examine  the  wrongs  complained  of  in  that 
Document,  and  see  if  they  are  not  such  as  the  wrongs 
done  by  the  slaveholder  to  the  free  States. 

"  Our  citizens  have  been  subjected  to  a  judicial  trial 
foreign  to  our  Constitution  and  unacknowledged  by  our 
laws" — [Eecollect  the  case  of  Eev.  J.  B.  Mehan]  ;  "  Pro- 
tecting, by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  murder" — 
[even  in  the  borders  of  a  free  State — case  of  Eev.  E.  P. 
Lovejoy]  ;  "Depriving  our  citizens,  in  many  cases,  of  the 
trial  by  jury" — [Mr.  Morris  seems  here,  as  if  by  pro- 
phecy, to  refer  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  passed  in  1850, 
by  which  any  man,  white  or  colored,  may  be  carried  off 
without  a  jury  trial].  "  In  every  stage  of  these  oppres- 
sions (and  those  I  have  mentioned  are  but  small),  the 
people  have  petitioned  for  redress,  in  the  most  humble 
terms,  and  their  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered 
only  by  repeated  rejections."  "A  power,"  in  this  coun- 
try, "whose  character  is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which 
may  define  a  tyrant,"  is  unfit  to  exist  among  a  free  people. 

In  the  midst  of  these  reflections,  how  cheering  was  your 
letter  !  It  was  indeed,  "  Good  news  from  a  far  country." 
It  was  evidence,  that  not  all  Ohioans  were  willing  to  sell 
their  birthrights  for  the  products  of  the  unrequited  labor 
of  the  slave !  No !  my  dear  Sir,  you  have  not  said  too 
much.  Who  is  a  greater  tyrant  than  he,  who  seizes  upon 
his  fellow  man,  and  not  only  wrests  from  him  the  profits 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  187 

of  hie  labor,  his  wife  and  his  'children,  but  makes  use  of 
his  very  flesh,  his  sinews,  and  his  bones,  as  articles  of 
merchandize  in  a  foreign  market. 

Shall  we  hesitate,  in  this  matter?  No!  Whoever  is  on 
the  side  of  freedom,  of  safety,  of  Union,  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, of  humanity,  of  justice ;  in  fact,  whoever  loves  his 
country  more  than  he  loves  negro  slavery,  let  him  come 
over  to  us.  Eesistance  to  slavery  is  our  duty.  It  is  both 
a  political  and  religious  duty ;  and  the  only  question  is, 
how  shall  we  best  discharge  that  duty?  We  must  do  it 
with  much  forbearance  and  suffering.  The  moral  power  of 
truth  will  bring  us  off  more  than  conquerors; — if  we  are  faith- 
ful to  our  Maker,  our  country,  and  ourselves ;  if  we  carry 
with  us  our  opposition  to  slavery  into  all  the  social  circles 
of  life;  talk  of  it  there  as  it  is;  protect  ourselves  against  its 
blighting  influences  in  the  discharge  of  our  political 
duties;  remember  it  at  the  polls;  bestow  our  suffrages  on  no 
man,  no  matter  what  he  is  in  other  respects,  who  will 
treat  with  contempt  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  to  feed 
the  monster  slavery,  which,  like  the  grave,  is  never 
satisfied. 

I  have  written  to  you  as  a  man  and  a  brother.  I  know 
not  to  what  political  party  you  belong,  nor  do  I  care. 
THAT  PARTY  is  MY  PARTY,  which  sustains  those  inalienable 
rights  upon  which  the  very  foundations  of  this  Govern- 
ment are  laid.  I  have  endeavored  to  maintain  those  rights, 
through  life,  in  every  situation  in  which  it  has  been  the 
pleasure  of  my  fellow  citizens  to  place  me.  I  shall  not 
desert  them  now,  for  age  has  confirmed  my  belief  in  their 
truth.  And  I  have  consolation  in  this  thought,  more 
than  in  any  other  connected  with  my  political  life,  that 
my  name,  humble  as  it  is,  will  be  found  among  those  who 
have  stood  FAITHFUL  in  defense  of  the  Constitutional 
liberty  and  equal  rights  of  the  free  citizen  ;  and  in  oppo- 
sition to  that  cruel  bondage  under  which  the  slave  is  now 
groaning. 


188 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 


Use  no  other  weapons,  then,  in  this  holy  warfare,  but 
such  as  are  spiritual,  moral,  and  political,  and  which  are 
in  strict  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  country  under  which 
we  live.  I  have  written  in  terms  which  may  be  con- 
sidered harsh  :  but  I  have  not  written  with  the  least  dis- 
respect to  men,  as  individuals,  or  legislators. 

The  great  principles  for  which  we  are  contending  require 
from  us  energy,  firmness  and  decision. 
I  am,  with  respect, 

Yours,  etc., 

THOMAS  MOEEIS. 
A.  H.  GUTHRIE,  ESQ. 

How  patriotic,  and,  alas !  how  prophetic  are  the  utter- 
ances of  these  letters.  The  successful  aggressions  of  the 
slave  power,  since  his  voice  rang  for  freedom  in  the  Sen- 
ate and  through  the  hills  of  Ohio,  are  mournful  fulfill- 
ments of  his  political  predictions.  The  slave  power  still 
rules  the  Government.  "  Judah  still  stoops  down  ;  he  couches 
as  a  lion,  and  as  an  old  lion :  Who,  or  what,  shall  rouse 
him  upf" 


- 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  189 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CRIED  of  Parties— Their  Tendencies  and  Results— Warning  of  Washing- 
ton— Mr.  Morris  a  Democrat  from  Principle — Catechised  by  the  Demo- 
cratic Legislature — His  Answer — Rejected  for  a  Second  Term— Benjamin 
Tappan  his  Successor — Letter  to  the  Ohio  Statesman — Charles  Ham- 
mond Read  out  of  the  Party — A  Poem  written  after  his  Rejection 
and  dedicated  to  Mr.  Morris. 

THE  rigid  creed  of  political  parties,  allows  no  liberal 
latitude  in  the  expression  of  opinion.  If  a  public  man 
does  not  hold  the  doctrines  of  the  party,  with  a  dovetail 
exactness,  he  is,  in  the  technical  language  of  the  party, 
read  out ;  is  a  rotten  member,  unworthy  of  party  confi- 
dence. His  private  judgment  and  conscience  are  subsi- 
dized to  the  inflexible  tactics  of  party  machinery ;  so  that 
he  is  not  free  to  act,  or  to  follow  where  conscience  and 
duty  would  lead.  The  political  creed,  formed  often  by 
selfish,  ambitious  politicians,  is  fixed,  and  no  -man  can  be 
a  loyal  member  of  the  party,  unless  he  adopts  and  carries 
out,  in  every  particular,  its  doctrines.  If  he  does  not,  he 
forfeits  his  party  standing,  and  suffers  disfranchisement 
from  all  political  favors.  Under  this  anti-democratic 
rule,  politicians,  and  public  men  in  office,  have,  against 
the  convictions  of  their  conscience  and  deliberate  judg- 
ment, voted  for  public  measures,  because  they  were  the 
measures  of  the  party. 

The  dangers  and  evils  of  this  political  despotism  are 
manifold.  It  is  subversive  of  true  manhood  and  indepen- 
dence. It  substitutes  a  partisan  spirit  for  national 
patriotism.  It  is  a  political  inquisition,  that  tortures  men 
to  affect  to  believe  what  they  can  not.  It  enthrones  the 
power  of  party,  above  conscience,  truth,  and  patriotism, 


190  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

and  thus  tends  to  the  demoralization  of  the  national  heart. 
It  disintegrates  politics  and  political  creeds  from  moral 
principles ;  and  so  subverts  the  strongest  pillars  of 
national  prosperity  and  safety.  It  encourages  corruption 
in  public  men,  and  creates  a  class  of  politicians,  who  live 
for  party  purposes,  and  labor  only  to  reap  the  spoils  of 
office.  It  is  a  virtual  interdiction  of  freedom  of  thought, 
allowing  no  generous  expansion  of  views,  no  act,  except 
it  fe  in  exact  conformity  with  party. 

It  was  in  view  of  such  results  of  parties,  that  Washing- 
ton, in  his  Farewell  Address  to  his  countrymen,  declared : 

"  The  common  and  continual  mischiefs  of  the  spirit  of 
party,  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  duty  and  interest  of  a 
wise  people  to  discourage  and  restrain  it.  Their  being 
constant  danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to  be,  by  force 
of  public  opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A  fire  not 
to  be  quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform  vigilance  to  prevent 
its  bursting  into  a  flame,  lest  instead  of  warming  it  should 


consume." 


It  is  a  hopeful  and  healthy  indication,  now  in  its  inci- 
pient stage  of  development,  among  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  that  political  Platforms  made  by  politicians, 
have  lost  the  confidence  of  the  American  people.  A  new 
political  and  moral  Millenium,  will  be  inaugurated  under 
such  a  dispensation. 

Senator  Morris  was  a  Democrat,  not  because  it  was  the 
synonym  and  watch  ward  of  a  party,  but  because  it  was 
the  representative  of  doctrines,  that  were  free,  universal, 
beneficent,  and  equal  in  their  operations  on  all  men ;  and 
if  carried  out,  in  their  true  intent,  would  enfranchise  the 
world,  and  bestow  on  every  man,  the  boon  of  personal 
liberty  and  all  civil  and  natural  rigfcta.  Hence,  he  was 
constitutionally  incapable  of  working  In  the  traces  of  a 
modern  party.  Indeed  he  thought  party  organizations 
frequently  detrimental  to  the  success  .of  principles.  "  I 
follow  party,"  said  he,  "  where  the  Constitution  and  prin- 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  191 

ciples  lead."  And  it  was  his  unfaltering  fidelity  to  true 
Democratic  principles,  that  secured  his  banishment  from 
the  Democratic  party. 

The  year  subsequent  to  his  retirement  from  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  he  was  a  delegate  from  Hamilton 
County  to  the  Democratic  Convention,  which  assembled 
at  Columbus,  Ohio,  on  the  8th  of  January.  1840.  That 
Convention  passed  strong  resolutions  against  any  political 
movement  or  agitation,  connected  with  slavery,  sfhd 
declared  that  no  sound  Democrat  would  have  part  or  lot 
with  it." 

Mr.  Morris,  faithful  to  the  great  principles  of  Demo- 
cracy, attempted  to  speak,  in  defense  of  the  repudiated 
principles.  He  was  permitted,  as  an  act  of  grace,  to  go  on 
a  short  time,  and  then  coughed  down,  and  silenced  by  a 
Democratic  Convention,  which,  in  their  address  to  the 
people  of  the  State,  reckoned  it  one  of  the  chief  glories  of 
Jefferson's  administration  that  "the  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press  were  restored  to  the  people." 

After  Mr.  Morris  had  been  silenced,  a  member  rose 
(Mr.  Sawyer)  and  declared — "That  the  Democratic  party 
had  no  affinity  with  Abolitionists ;  and  that  he  considered 
the  gentleman  from  Hamilton  (Mr.  Morris)  as  a  rotten 
branch  that  should  be  lopped  off."  This  was  received  with 
loud  shouts  of—  "  Agreed ! "  "  Agreed ! "  "  Let  him  go ! " 
"  Turn  him  out  of  the  party,  and  all  'other  Abolitionists 
with  him!" 

Previous  to  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Morris,  for  a  second  term, 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  the  Democratic  Com- 
mittee of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  sent  him  the  Democratic 
Creed,  for  his  approval. 

To  that  communication  he  sent  the  following  answer : 
•   • 

WASHINGTON,  December  llth,  1838. 

GENTLEMEN — I  received  yours  of  the  7th  instant,  this 
morning,  and  I  reply  thereto  as  soon  as  possible.  You 


192  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

inform  me  that,  having  been  selected  by  the  Democratic 
members  of  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  as  a  committee  to 
interrogate  the  several  persons  named  for  United  States 
Senator,  you  request  my  answer  to  the  following  inter- 
rogatories : 

1.  Are  you  in  favor  of  an  Independent  Treasury  Bill? 
My  answer  is,  that  I  view  the  independence  of  the 

Treasury  as  essentially  necessary  to  the  independence  of 
the  country  itself.  I  am,  therefore,  in  favor  of  an  Inde- 
pendent Treasury,  free  from  all  local  and  private  influ- 
ence. 

2.  Are  you  a  supporter  of  the  leading  measures  of  the 
present  Administration? 

I  answer — I  shall  give  my  support  to  the  Administra- 
tion, in  whatever  situation  I  may  be  placed,  in  its  oppo- 
sition to  a  Bank  of  the  United  States ;  in  its  views  with 
regard  to  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money,  and  the 
disbursement  thereof;  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  the 
limitations  of  the  powers  of  Congress.  I  say,  further, 
that  I  know  of  no  recommendation  made  by  the  present 
incumbent  of  the  Presidential  chair,  of  a  general  charac- 
ter, in  which  I  do  not  concur.  I  am,  therefore,  in  favor 
of  the  leading  measures  of  the  present  Administration. 

3.  Are  you  for  or  against  modern  Abolitionism  ? 

/  am  opposed  to  slavery  in  all  its  forms ;  and  against  its 
further  extension  in  our  country;  believing  it  to  be  wrong 
in  itself,  and  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people, 
I  view  it  as  a  creature  of  State  law  only,  and  that  Con- 
gress have  no  power  over  it,  as  it  exists  in  the  States ; 
neither  have  Congress  the  power  to  create  a  system  of 
slavery  where  it  does  not  exist,  or  to  give  it  new  and 
additional  security.  1  believe  that,  if  the  citizens  of  a 
free  State,  when  within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  slave  State, 
violate  the  slave  laws  of  such  a  State,  they  are  as  justly 
punishable  for  such  acts  as  they  would  be  for  the  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  such  State  in  any  other  particular.  I 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  193 

hold  that  the  citizens  in  each  and  every  State,  have  ao 
indisputable  right  to  speak,  write,  or  print,  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  as  on  any  other  subject ;  always  liable  to  the  laws  of 
the  State  where  the  act  is  done,  for  the  abuse  of  that 
liberty.  The  right  of  petition  to  the  Legislature  for  a 
redress  of  grievances,  I  hold  to  be  inviolate  on  all  sub- 
jects, and  above  the  power  of  law. 

I  believe  also,  however  much  we  feel  opposed  to  slavery, 
and  however  wicked  and  unjust  we  may  believe  the  sys- 
tem, we  are  still,  under  our  Government,  bound  to  protect 
the  slaveholder  in  his  slave  property,  by  aiding  in  the 
suppression  of  servile  insurrection,  or  war.  I  believe  it 
to  be  the  duty  of  the  States  as  well  at  their  interest,  to  abolish 
slavery  where  it  exists,  but  that  no  other  State  would  be 
justifiable  in  interfering  for  that  purpose. 

I  also  believe  the  African  race,  born  in  our  country,  or 
brought  into  it  against  their  will,  ought  to  be  protected 
in,  and  enjoy  their  natural  rights ;  but  I  do  not  believe  it 
would  be  good  policy,  or  promote  the  safety  of  the  coun- 
try, the  happiness  of  ourselves,  or  the  Negro  race,  to 
admit  them  to  the  enjoyment  of  equal  political  or  social 
privileges.  I  believe  that  the  moral  power  of  truth  and 
reason,  ought  alone  to  be  employed  on  behalf  of  the 
slaves;  and  that  every  citizen  has  the  right  to  exercise 
this  power,  which,  if  rightfully  used,  will  be  sufficient  for 
the  downfall  of  slavery ;  and  that,  in  all  our  intercourse 
with  the  colored  race,  we  ought,  constantly,  to  give  them  to 
understand,  that  we  will  not  aid,  but  suppress,  any  attempt 
that  may  be  made  for  their  liberation  in  any  other  way. 

I  have  thought  it  best  to  answer  your  third  interroga- 
tory, as  I  have  done,  because  a  direct  answer  might  be 
liable  to  misconception  or  misunderstanding.  As  to  what 
modern  Abolitionism  is  ;  as  it  is  represented  by  many,  I 
believe  it  entirely  wrong,  but  whether  the  representation 
be  correct  or  not,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say.  My  opinions  on 
this  question  have  been  often,  both  in  public  and  private, 
17 


194  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

heretofore  expressed ;  but  I  have  answered  you,  briefly, 
as  it  seemed  to  me  I  ought,  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the 
subject  was  altogether  a  new  one.  I  trust  you  will  be  able 
fully  to  comprehend  my  views,  from  what  I  have  said. 

"  4.  Are  you  willing  to  submit  to  the  selection  made  by 
your  political  friends  ?  " 

I  am  always  willing  to  sustain  my  political  friends  in 
their  selection  of  men  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining 
public  measures.  Without  this  unity,  every  measure, 
however  valuable,  would  be  liable  to  fail. 

I  have  thus,  Gentlemen,  answered  you  briefly,  and  in 

much  haste  ;  and  whatever  course  you  may  pursue,  I  hope 

it  may  prove  satisfactory  to  our  friends,   and  tend  to 

promote  the  best  interests  of  the  country. 

I  am,  with  respect, 

Your  obedient  Servant 

THOMAS  MOKRIS. 
MESSRS.  T.  J.  BUCHANAN,  JOHN  BROUGH, 

AND  DAVID  TOD,  Committee,  etc. 

Mr.  Morris  was  succeeded  as  Senator,  by  Hon.  Benja- 
min Tappan,  with  whom  he  had  acted  as  a  politician,  and 
a  legislator,  in  the  early  history  of  Ohio.  They  were 
personal  and  political  friends.  Both  were  prominent 
members  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  active  in  the  Leg- 
islation of  Ohio.  Mr.  Tappan  was  elected  for  his  avowed 
discountenance  and  opposition  to  anti-slavery  doctrines  ; 
and  Mr.  Morris  rejected  for  favoring  and  advocating  them. 
During  a  series  of  years,  which  had  ripened  into  mutual 
friendship,  their  sentiments,  not  only  on  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  politics,  but  especially  on  the  subject  of  American 
slavery,  were  in  harmony.  Mr.  Tappan  belonged  to  a 
distinguished  anti-slavery  family,  who  were  among  the 
pioneers  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise ;  and  who  suffered 
persecution  for  the  cause.  Arthur  Tappan,  who  was 
mobbed  in  New  York,  in  1832,  and  for  whose  head  the 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  195 

South  offered  a  reward  of  ten  thousand  dollars ;  and 
Lewis  Tappan,  who  has  been  connected  officially  with  the 
anti-slavery  cause  from  the  beginning  almost,  were 
brothers  of  Benjamin  Tappan. 

Charles  Hammond,  the  veteran  editor  of  the  Cincinnati 
Gazette,  said  of  Mr.  Tappan,  when  elected  Senator  :  "  I 
have  known  him  nearly  forty  years.  Not  Arthur  Tap- 
pan,  nor  Lewis  Tappan  have  either  ever  evinced  a  more 
settled  scorn  for  the  slaveholder's  pretensions,  on  the  whole 
subject  of  slavery,  than  Benjamin  Tappan  has  manifested 
in  his  whole  life  and  conduct,  until  a  surrender  of  opinion 
has  been  made  a  party  test.  If  he  has  surrendered,  it  is 
but  another  instance  of  the  debasing  power  of  party  drill. 
But  Benjamin  Tappan  is  anti-slavery,  and  his  whole  soul 
is  as  strong  as  that  of  John  Quincy  Adams  against  the 
assumptions  of  the  slaveholder.  He  distinguished  himself 
in  his  profession,  in  Jefferson  County,  for  a  succession 
of  years,  in  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  Negro." 

Mr.  Tappan  signalized  his  first  effort  in  Congress,  by 
refusing  to  present  to  the  Senate,  petitions,  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  from  his  own  constituents. 

He  said,  that  "  slavery  and  the  slave  trade,  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  were  no  grievances  to  the  people  of  Ohio,  and 
that  for  myself,  I  can  not  recognize  the  right  of  my  fair 
country-women  to  meddle  in  public  affairs." 

On  the  21st  of  December,  1838,  Mr.  Tappan  was  elected 
Senator  from  Ohio.  When  the  result  of  the  election 
reached  Mr.  Morris,  he  wrote  to  the  Editors  of  the  Ohio 
Statesman,  then  and  now,  the  organ  of  the  Democratic 
party,  at  the  capitol  of  flie  State,  the  following  letter : 

WASHINGTON,  December  26,  1838. 

Messrs.  Medary,  and  Brothers — I  received  your  paper  of  the 
21st,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  24th,  in  which  is  stated  the 
result  of  the  election  of  Senator  in  Congress,  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State.  There  is  also  in  the  same  paper, 


196  LIFE    Of    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

some  remarks  of  yours,  which,  I  believe,  require  from 
me  a  justification  of  my  official  conduct  here.  I  would 
have  immediately  written  to  you,  but  it  was  the  Eve 
of  Christmas,  and  the  time  and  place,  seemed  rather 
unfavorable. 

There  was  not  a  man  among  all  the  contending  candi- 
dates, whom  I  would  prefer  before  Judge  Tappan  ;  and  I 
should  rejoice  at  his  election,  did  I  not  understand  from 
your  remarks,  and  from  other  information,  derived  from 
a  source  in  which  I  have  full  confidence,  that  this  elec- 
tion is  to  be  considered  a  rebuke,  for  the  course  I  have,  as 
Senator,  taken  here ;  and  the  opinions,  I  have,  as  a  pri- 
vate citizen,  expressed  on  the  subject  of  Abolition.  I  hope 
this  may  not  be  the  case,  but  as  facts  now  stand  before 
the  country,  I  should  feel  myself  recreant  to  the  Consti- 
tution,  to  the  people,  and  to  myself,  did  I  not,  on  this 
occasion,  re-assert  the  principles  on  which  I  have  con- 
stantly acted. 

I  have  known  my  worthy  successor  for  many  years. 
"We,  I  think,  have  constantly  and  uniformly  agreed  on 
political  subjects;  and  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  my 
memory  is,  that  he  was  a  more  strenuous  opposer  of  that 
system  than  myself.  I  am  fortified  in  this  position, 
because  I  well  remember  that  his  opposition  to  slavery, 
was  an  objection  urged  against  him  when  he  was  a  candi- 
date for  District  Judge  of  our  State.  "What  his  opinions 
now  are  on  this  subject,  I  am  unable  to  say,  but  would  be 
much  pleased  to  learn. 

You  say :  "  That  a  great  number  of  Democratic  visitors, 
with  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  met  Judge  Tappan 
in  the  large  Hall  of  the  American  Hotel ;  that  the  Judge, 
in  reply  to  the  complimentary  toast,  to  the  Senator  elect, 
replied  in  a  neat  and  most  satisfactory  manner.  He  dwelt 
with  effect  upon  the  slanders  that  had  been  put  into 
circulation  in  regard  to  his  being  an  Abolitionist,  and 
was  responded  to  with  the  most  thrilling  acclamations, 


LIFE  OF  SENATOR   MORRIS.  197 

and  (as  I  understood  you)  his  views  on  this  subject,  as 
well  as  upon  others,  correspond  entirely  with  the  present 
Administration,  and  the  present  majority  in  Congress." 

It  has,  perhaps,  been  my  misfortune  to  love  and  respect 
the  Constitution  of  my  country,  and  the  rights  of  the 
people  under  it,  more  than  an  Administration  or  a  majority. 
Placed  in  this  situation,  and  under  the  ban  of  a  MAJORITY, 
I  respectfully  ask  the  Legislature  to  recall  me,  if  I  have, 
in  any  act  or  vote  here,  done  that  which  they  deem  inju- 
rious to  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  The  shortness 
of  the  remaining  time  of  my  service,  I  consider  no  objec- 
tion or  excuse  for  the  Legislature ;  as  in  a  case  like  the 
present,  the  man  and  the  time  are  nothing,  the  example 
everything.  I  would  follow  the  example  set  me  by 
members  of  the  House  of  .Representatives  from  our  own 
State,  if  I  had  satisfactory  evidence,  clear  to  my  mind, 
that  the  Constitutional  Body,  the  Legislature  of  State, 
disavowed  my  principles  and  doctrines. 

In  order  that  I  may  stand  correctly  before  the  country, 
I  will  state,  as  succinctly  as  I  can,  my  actions  and  opinions 
as  a  Senator  in  Congress,  and  even  some  of  the  private 
opinions  I  entertain  as  a  citizen ;  and  hope  the  General 
Assembly  if  they  think  them  incorrect,  will  promptly 
disavow  them,  and  instruct  me  to  act  otherwise,  even 
during  the  present  session.  The  question  is  considered 
by  all  as  one  of  vast  importance.  It  is  one  on  which  the 
country  requires  their  action ;  though  an  individual  might 
very  properly  complain  of  injustice  if  stricken  down  with- 
out a  hearing.  I  will  briefly  state  some  votes  I  have 
given  here,  on  the  different  propositions  connected  with 
the  slavery  question,  for  the  consideration  of  the  Legisla- 
ture and  the  people  of  the  State,  in  order  to  give  a  full 
understanding  of  the  subject. 

President  Jackson,  in  his  Message  to  the  first  session  of 
the  24th  Congress,  invited  the  attention  of  Congress  "  to 
the  painful  excitement  produced  in  the  South,  by  attempts 


198  LIFE     OP     SENATOR    MORRIS. 

to  circulate,  through  the  mail,  inflammatory  appeals 
addressed  to  the  slaves."  After  speaking  in  strong  terms 
against  such  proceeding,  he  seems  to  remind  the  State 
authorities  that  to  them  properly  belongs  this  part  of  the 
subject.  He  further  says :  "  I  would,  therefore,  call  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject,  and  especially  sug- 
gest the  propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as  will  prohibit, 
under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation,  in  the  Southern 
States,  of  incendiary  publications,  intended  to  instigate 
the  slave  to  insurrection." 

To  this  recommendation  of  the  President  I  strongly 
objected  at  the  time ;  a  Bill,  however,  was  brought  in,  in 
pursuance  of  the  recommendation.  It  progressed  as  it 
is  usual,  until  Mr.  Calhoun  proposed  certain  amend- 
ments, which  were  rejected  by  an  even  vote.  When  the 
question  was  taken  on  the  engrossment,  and  the  vote 
stood  18  to  18,  the  Vice  President,  (Mr.  Van  Buren,) 
voted  for  the  engrossment;  both  the  Senators  from  New 
York  were  on  the  same  side.  On  the  third  reading  of 
the  Bill  the  vote  stood  19  for  the  Bill,  25  against  it.  In 
every  stage  of  this  anti- Abolition  Bill,  I  opposed  it.  To 
preserve  the  correspondence  of  individuals  from  inspec- 
tion, and  the  right  of  the  people  to  use  the  Post  Office 
Department,  and  the  system  from  being  broken  down 
under  the  slaveholding  power,  was  my  most  ardent  wish. 
"We  succeeded  after  a  long  struggle ;  the  slaveholding 
interest  not  then  being  organized  and  banded  together,  as  it 
afterward  was  and  now  is.  This  I  think  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered my  first  Abolition  sin.  I  ask  no  forgiveness,  but  hope 
the  Legislature  will  disavow  the  act,  if  they  think  I  erred. 

The  next  prominent  question  on  this  subject,  was,  the 
presentation  of  petitions  praying  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  I  presented  these 
petitions,  and  advocated  their  reference  to  a  committee, 
to  consider  the  subject.  I  am  willing  to  admit,  that  they 
were  the  petitions  of  actual  Abolitionists.  Petitions  of 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  199 

this  kind  I  have  now  in  my  possession,  and  I  feel  it  my 
duty  to  present  them,  and  move  for  the  action  of  the  Sen- 
ate on  the  same.  I  respectfully  ask  the  Legislature  to 
instruct  me  on  this  point,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  misrepre- 
sent the  State  a  single  moment.  If  the  Legislature  are 
of  the  opinion  that  the  petitions  of  Abolitionists,  praying 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
ought  not  to  be  presented  to  Congress ;  or  when  pre- 
sented, that  the  right  of  petition  is  not  abridged,  by  a 
member  objecting  to  their  reception,  and  laying  the 
motion  on  the  table,  without  deciding  whether  the  peti- 
tion shall  be  received  or  not,  is  a  correct  and  Constitu- 
tional proceeding — it  is  a  very  easy  matter  so  to  inform 
me.  My  course  of  duty  will  then  be  plain. 

Mr.  Calhoun's  resolutions  were  the  next  great  Anti- 
Abolition  movements.  They  speak  for  themselves.  I 
voted  against  them  all,  as  I  think,  without  an  examina- 
tion of  the  vote,  as  it  may  appear  on  the  Journal.  The 
resolutions  can  be  approved,  and  my  course  censured,  if 
it  be  necessary  as  a  peace-offering  to  sustain  slavery. 
The  counter-resolutions  I  offered  are  before  the  public. 
I,  soon  after  their  introduction,  abandoned  the  idea  of 
asking  for  them  a  separate  vote,  as  those  offered  by  Mr. 
Calhoun  brought  the  whole  subject  into  debate.  There  is 
one  specific  proposition,  however,  which  I  submitted, 
which  is  in  the  following  words,  and  to  which  I  would 
ask  particular  attention.  It  is : 

"And  the  privilege  of  the  people  to  speak,  write,  print, 
and  publish  their  opinions,  on  any  subject  whatever, 
whether  the  same  concern  the  political,  moral,  or  reli- 
gious institutions  of  any  State,  or  on  the  nature  and  con- 
dition of  man,  as  born  equally  free  and  independent,  is 
indisputable;  and  those  exercising  that  privilege  are 
responsible  for  the  abuse  of  this  liberty  to  the  State  alone, 
in  which  such  writing,  speaking,  printing,  or  publishing 


200  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

actually  takes  place."    In  favor  of  this  proposition  there 
were  9  votes  against  32. 

I  pronounce  this  solemn  denial  of  the  truth  of  this  pro- 
position I  submitted,  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  votes 
ever  given  in  Congress.  (You  will  pardon  me  for  speak- 
ing against  majorities.}  Thirty-two  members  of  the  Senate 
have,  by  this  vote,  asserted  that  the  converse  of  the  pro- 
postion  is  true,  that  the  people  have  no  such  rights  as 
are  there  enumerated,  and  that  the  people  may  be  indi- 
vidually responsible  for  acts  done  in  one  State  to  the 
laws  of  another  State.  The  practical  effect  of  this  vote, 
Mr.  Mahan,  of  Brown  county,  has  felt;  but  even  the 
court  of  a  slaveholding  State  could  not  be  made  to  swal- 
low this  monstrous  doctrine.  My  colleague,  Mr.  Allen, 
voted  against  this  proposition,  and  on  this  question  he 
and  I  differed  widely. 

You  seem  to  think  that  no  State  in  the  Union  will  HAVE 
abler  and  warmer  supporters  of  the  President  and  his 
measures  (not  of  the  Constitution  and  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  of  the  PRESIDENT  and  his  MEASURES),  in  both 
branches  of  the  NEXT  Congress,  than  the  Buckeye  State. 
Do  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature  deny  the 
truths  of  the  propositions  I  submitted  ?  It  seems  to  me 
they  do;  for  I  have  been  condemned  as  the  friend  of 
Abolitionism,  without  one  redeeming  quality.  In  perfect 
respect  to  the  Body,  may  I  hope  they  will  instruct  or 
reprove  me  on  this  point  also. 

I  could  enlarge  on  the  subject,  but  I  fear  I  have 
already  been  tedious.  I  have  not  set  down  one  word  in 
bitterness,  but  with  the  most  entire  respect  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  my  State,  who  have  thought  my  opinions,  as 
expressed  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  ostracise  me.  This  is  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  demands  of  the  slaveholder — "  You  shall  not  express 
an  opinion  against  our  slavery  institutions ;  if  you  do,  we 


LIF1   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  201 

will  revenge  our  injuries,"  say  the  slaveholders.  Do  the 
Democracy  of  Ohio  respond  to  this  sentiment,  and  say — 
"We  want  no  one  to  belong  to  our  ranks  who  speaks 
against  slavery ;  that  will  make  Southern  gentlemen 
very  wrathy?"  I  drop  the  subject.  I  grow  sick  at  the 
reflection;  I  hope  it  all  may  be  fancy,  but  I  fear  its 
reality. 

I  have  never,  to  my  recollection,  brought  forward  or 
urged  a  single  proposition,  in  favor  of  the  down-trodden 
and  suffering  slave.  My  only  apology,  before  God,  and 
my  country,  is,  that  I  have  as  yet  discovered  no  ray  of 
hope  for  him,  until  public  opinion  shall  become  more  united 
and  vigorous  in  his  behalf.  In  order  to  keep  his  fetters 
secure,  the  freedom  of  speech  and  debate  on  his  behalf  is 
stricken  down,  and  now  lies  dead  in  the  Halls  of  Congress. 
But  I  rejoice  to  know,  that,  when  individual  rights  have 
been  broken  down,  and  trodden  upon  in  Congress,  they 
have  found  support  in  the  State  Legislatures ;  and  when 
liberty  has  been  strangled  there,  she  has  been  resuscita- 
ted by  the  people,  and  bestowed  upon  all  as  a  common 
birthright. 

To  preserve  the  Constitutional  rights  of  man  has  been 
my  constant  object.  There  is,  perhaps,  no  instance  to  be 
found,  in  which  the  first  advocates  of  liberty  in  any 
country,  were  not  few  in  number,  and  a  persecuted  class 
by  those,  who  in  power,  were  gaining  by  the  oppression 
of  others.  They  have  been  branded  with  every  odious  epithet, 
and  charged  with  seeking  to  destroy  the  peace,  and  hap- 
piness of  the  country.  The  promulgation  of  their  opin- 
ions has  been  prohibited,  because  power,  unrighteously 
exercised,  always  seeks  to  carry  on  its  operations  secretly, 
darkly,  and  without  examination  by  others. 

Do  not  suppose  I  regret  the  loss  of  power ;  I  would 
not  wish  to  exercise  it  against  the  opinions  of  my  State  ; 
nor  would  1  wish  its  possession  for  a  moment,  if  I  should 
feel  constrained  to  use  it  to  depress  or  destroy  human 


202  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

liberty.  I  fed  devoutly  thankful  to  my  Maker,  and  deeply 
grateful  to  my  State,  for  the  situation  1  occupy,  where  my  hum- 
ble name,  appears  upon  the  highest  records  of  my  country,  in 
opposition  to  slavery,  and  among  the  friends  of  the  poor,  trodden 
down,  and  broken-hearted  slave.  I  have  no  wish  to  occupy  any 
situation,  in  which  all  the  powers  of  my  mind,  may  not  be  fully 
exercised  in  this  high,  and  permit  me  to  say,  holy  duty,  always 
subject  to  the  laws  of  the  country  in  which  Imay  be. 

And  when  the  hand  of  time  shall  point  to  the  last  hour  of  my 
existence;  1  trust  that  my  fervent  prayer  may  be,  that  the 
Almighty,  in  his  good  time,  will  deliver  the  Negro  race,  from 
that  cruel  slavery  under  which  they  are  now  groaning ;  and  that 
the  liberties  and  happiness  of  my  country  may  be  perpetual. 
That  this  will  be  accomplished  in  good  time  there  can  be 
but  little  doubt ;  and  that  an  overruling  Providence,  will 
so  order  the  affairs  of  our  land,  that  this  event  may  take 
place  without  disturbing  the  peace  of  our  people,  I  trust 
is  the  ardent  desire  of  every  citizen,  who  is  attached  to 
the  true  principles  upon  which  our  Government  rests. 
I  am,  with  respect,  yours,  etc., 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 
. 

N.  B.  "When  I  commenced  this  letter,  I  intended  it  for 
your  private  inspection  only,  but  my  mind  changed  as  I 
progressed,  and  I  leave  it  to  you  to  publish,  if  you  think 
proper. 

Every  rising  sun  confirms  me  in  the  truth  of  the  opin- 
ions I  entertain  on  this  subject.  The  power  of  slavery 
here  is  tremendous  —  its  march  is  onward.  It  avows  the 
bold  determination,  that  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  MEN  ARE  PROPERTY  ;  and  that  every  citizen  has 
the  right  to  use  his  property  in  each  and  every  State  in 
the  Union ;  therefore,  slavery,  at  the  will  of  the  slave- 
holder, may  exist  in  all  the  States.  Constitutions  and 
laws  of  States  are  mere  cobwebs,  when  they  come  in 
contact  with  this  claim  to  make  men  property.  Even 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  203 

this  cant  phrase,  Negro  property,  is  used  by  many  of  our 
own  citizens  in  Ohio.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but,  he  who 
seems  to  dwell  with  pleasure  on  this  idea,  would  feel 
much  pleasure  also,  in  aiding  to  establish  slavery  among 
us,  with  all  its  withering  influences.  I  ask  the  vigilant 
and  solemn  attention  of  our  citizens  to  this  point. 


"  This  letter,"  said  Dr.  Bailey,  "  must  exalt  the  charac- 
ter of  Thomas  Morris,  in  the  estimation  of  every  one, 
whose  opinions  are  of  any  value.  It  is  his  praise,  rare 
praise  for  a  politician,  that  he  loves  his  country  and  the 
Constitution,  better  than  his  party  or  its  measures.  Few 
except  those,  whose  generous  feelings  have  been  destroyed 
by  pro-slavery  rancor  or  party  bigotry,  will  deny  to 
Thomas  Morris  the  credit  of  being  an  able,  honest,  inde- 
pendent, a  consistent  and  high-minded  patriot."  After 
his  defeat,  it  was  proclaimed  through  the  country,  that 
Thomas  Morris  was  a  martyr  to  his  principles.  He  is 
laid  on  the  altar  of  Slavery  as  a  peace  offering  to  the 
South.  Slaveholders  commanded,  and  the  party  obeyed. 
He  will  rejoice  in  being  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  the 
truth. 

After  his  defeat,  the  following  Poem  was  published  and 
dedicated  — 


ibr  fjan.  fcbomas  porris. 

The  heart  and  lip  are  dumb! 

And  the  Southern  taunt  is  tamely  met 
Our  kneeling  day  is  come! 

Freedom's  bright  Star  hath  set! 
The  recreant  West  hath  kneeled 

To  the  footstool  of  the  South; 
And  the  voice  of  her  own  free  son  is  sealed, 

The  gag  is  in  her  mouth. 


204  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

And  what  hast  thou  done,  that  they 

Should  frown  upon  thee  now ; 
And  what  is  the  crime  they  thus  repay, 

With  a  dark  and  clouded  brow? 
While  our  country's  banner's  ware, 

In  pride  and  pomp,  on  high, 
Thou  hast  lent  an  ear  to  the  dying  slave, 

In  his  bitter  agony. 

Thou  hadst  eyes,  and  could  not  be  blind 

To  his  hot  and  bitter  tears ; 
Nor  deaf  to  the  shrieks  that  load  the  wind 

Nor  cold  to  the  mother's  fears. 
Thy  lip  could  not  be  dumb 

To  plead  for  the  down-trodden  poor, 
Though  the  stern  rebuke  should  harshly  coma 

From  the  sons  of  the  high  and  the  pure. 

Thou  art  one  of  the  few  who  art  better 

Than  those  they  represent; 
Who  rise  to  break  the  bondman's  fetter, 

Ere  Mercy's  day  be  spent ; 
Who  cherish  the  golden  words 

That  are  from  oblivion  won, 
Undying  gems  that  flash  from  the  lips 

Of  the  glorious  Jefferson. 

There  are  some  whose  nerve*  are  strong, 

Who  oac  see  the  slave  all  gory, 
And  scarred  with  the  mark  of  the  driver's  thong, 

Tet  talk  of  their  country's  glory! 
Who  can  smite  on  the  bowed  with  yean 

As  he  perisheth  in  the  Bun; 
And  coldly  look  on  the  orphan's  tears 

As  she  prays  her  life  were  done. 


LIVE   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  205 

Thank  God  there  are  hearts  that  feel 

For  the  out-cast  bleeding  poor; 
Thank  God,  there  are  men  who  will  not  kneel 

And  laud  the  evil-doer. 
And  thou  art  one  of  those, 

Who  as  they  feel  dare  speak; 
Who  can  not  spurn  the  bondman's  woes, 

Or  spurn  the  poor  and  weak. 

And  thou  the  wise  and  good, 

We  oft  will  pray  for  thee; 
Thou  hast  done  as  thy  country's  freemen  should, 

While  battling  for  her  free. 
Thou  hast  our  wannest  love  — 

Thou  hast  our  freshest  tears ; 
And  shalt  have,  while  the  bright  stars  shine 

Down  to  our  latest  years! 

Farewell !  farewell ! !    Unknown 

Though  the  minstrel  is  to  thee, 
He  hath  tuned  his  harp  to  an  humble  tone 

For  the  Champion  of  the  free. 
And  in  its  dying  cadence-moans — 

"May  sorrow  find  thee  never; 
And  love  and  truth,  with  their  kindest  tones* 

Be  with  thee,  now  and  ever." 


206 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ERECT-TON  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  in  Philadelphia  —  Distinguished  Politi- 
cians and  Divines  invited  to  its  Dedication  —  Its  destruction  by  a  mob — 
The  Continental  State  House — Its  Bell  —  Its  Bible  Motto  —  Mr.  Morris 
invited  to  the  Dedication  —  His  Answer  —  Its  just  and  noble  senti- 
ments. 

ON  the  18th  of  May,  1838,  the  friends  of  free  discussion, 
in  Philadelphia,  completed  a  large  and  beautiful  hall, 
and  with  imposing  ceremonies,  dedicated  it  to  Truth  and 
Freedom,  and  Free  discussion.  It  was  stipulated  by  those 
who  erected  it  that  "  it  is  not  to  be  used  for  Anti-slavery 
purposes  alone,  but  for  any  purpose  not  of  an  immoral 
character."  It  was  a  Temple  open  for  free  discussion  on 
all  subjects  relating  to  the  progress  of  society,  and  the 
elevation  and  freedom  of  all  men. 

It  bore  the  title  of  "  Pennsylvania  Hall."  Ionic  columns 
graced  its  interior,  and  on  these  rested  a  beautiful  arch, 
on  which  was  engraven,  the  motto  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania, 

VIRTUE,  LIBERTY,  AND  INDEPENDENCE. 

Distinguished  men  from  all  parties  in  politics,  and  from 
various  sects  in  religion,  were  invited  to  be  present  at  its 
dedication.  A  host  of  the  sons  of  freedom  were  present, 
and  very  many,  wrote  letters  of  congratulation  and 
sympathy. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  in  response  to  a  letter  of  invita- 
tion, wrote  from  his  seat  in  Congress  :  "  The  right  of  dis- 
cussion upon  slavery  and  an  indefinite  extent  of  topics 
connected  with  it,  banished  from  one  half  of  the  States  of 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  207 

this  Union.  It  is  suspended  in  both  Houses  of  Congress, — 
opened  and  closed  at  the  pleasure  of  the  slave  representa- 
tion ;  opened  for  the  promulgation  of  nullification 
sophistry;  closed  against  the  question,  WHAT  IS 
SLAYEEY?  at  the  sound  of  which  the  walls  of  the 
Capitol  staggered  like  a  drunken  man." 

"  For  this  suppression  of  the  freedom  of  speech,  of  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  and  of  the  right  of  petition,  the 
people  of  the  FREE  States  of  this  Union,  (by  which  I 
mean  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding  States,)  are 
responsible,  and  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  most  of  all." 
"I  rejoice  that  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  friends  of 
free  discussion,  have  erected  a  Hall  for  its  unrestrained 
exercise.  My  fervent  wishes  are,  that  Pennsylvania  Hall 
may  fulfill  its  destination,  by  demonstrative  proof,  that 
freedom  of  speech  in  the  city  of  Penn  shall  no  longer  be 
an  abstraction." 

Distinguished  Ministers,  also,  rejoiced  in  so  auspicious  an 
event.  Kev.  Nathan  S.  Beman,  D.  D.,  of  Troy,  New  York, 
a  man  of  great  pulpit  talents  and  celebrity,  in  the  New- 
School,  Presbyterian  Church,  wrote  to  the  committee  on 
this  wise :  "  I  felt  honored  in  your  choice,  and  my  feelings 
were  deeply  enlisted.  My  own  heart  is  with  you.  We 
can  not  forbear  to  express  our  abhorrence  of  chains  and 
stripes ;  and  should  we  do  it,  the  very  stones  would  cry  out.  I 
rejoice  that  there  is  a  spirit  still  in  existence,  that  will 
not  bow  to  the  altar  of  slavery,  nor  tamely  submit  to  the 
dictation  of  those,  who  declare  in  high  places,  that  it  is  a 
wise  and  holy  institution,  and  that  it  shall  be  perpetual. 
What  a  contest  is  this  to  be  waged  in  a  land  of  Kepub- 
licanism,  and  a  land  of  Christianity  !  But  if  the  charter 
of  these  two  systems — the  Declaration  of  Independence 
and  the  Bible,  are  permitted  to  speak,  now,  certain  is  it 
that  tlie  rights  of  man  will  be  triumphant" 

David  Paul  Brown,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Philadel- 
phia ;  and  Alvan  Steuart,  a  noble  hearted  philanthropist 


208 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


of  New  York  ;  and  other  distinguished  and  patriotic  men, 
were  present,  and  made  eloquent  orations  at  its  dedi- 
cation. 

The  day  of  its  dedication  was  but  a  speedy  prelude  to 
its  destruction.  The  festive  and  the  funeral  song  almost 
mingled  in  union.  Three  days  a  Temple  dedicated  to 
freedom  was  permitted  to  stand,  in  a  city  founded  by 
"William  Penn,  and  in  a  country  whose  civil  Constitutions 
proclaim  freedom  of  speech  as  one  of  the  cardinal  doc- 
trines of  the  Government,  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  of 
man.  On  the  17th  of  May,  1838,  a  mob  countenanced  by 
men  of  intelligence  and  by  the  municipal  authorities  of 
Philadelphia,  put  the  torch  to  the  noble  temple,  and  in  a 
few  hours  it  stood  a  sacrificial  monument  to  incendiarism 
and  slavery. 


"That  Temple  now  in  ruin  lies; 

The  fire-stain's  on  its  shattered  wall, 
And  open  to  the  changing  skies 

Its  black  and  roofless  hall. 
It  stands  before  a  nation's  sight, 
A  grave-stone  over  buried  right! 

"But  from  that  ruin,  as  of  old, 

The  fire-scorched  stones  themselves  are  crying, 
And  from  their  ashes,  white  and  cold, 

Its  timbers  are  replying! 
A  voice  which  slavery  can  not  kill,     ^ 
Speaks  from  the  crumbling  arches  still ! " 

WHITTIER. 


The  old  State-House,  redolent  with  ^Revolutionary 
inspirations,  and  forever  sacred  to  freedom — where  the 
the  patriots  and  statesmen  of  1776  counseled  and  prayed, 
and  pledged  their  "  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor,"  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  of  human  rights-— 
stood,  and  yet  stands,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  On  that 
old  State -House  hangs  a  Bell,  imported  from  England  in 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  209 

Colonial  times;  and  on  it,  is  engraven  this  inspired  and 
prophetic  motto  of  Freedom  : 

"Proclaim  Liberty  throughout  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants 

thereof." 

When  the  torch  of  the  incendiary  was  put  to  that  Tem- 
ple of  Freedom,  that  old  Bell  which  had,  in  the  dark  days 
of  the  Revolution  called  patriots  together,  should  have 
sent  forth  its  peals  of  warning  to  those  enemifia^of  free- 
dom and  their  country. 

Thomas  Morris,  defending  the  true  principles  of  the 
Government  and  of  liberty  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  being  invited  to  aid  in  the  Dedication,  wrote  from 
his  seat  the  following  letters : 

WASHINGTON,  January  30,  1838. 

FRIENDS — I  received  on  yesterday,  your  esteemed  favor 
of  the  26th  instant;  and  I  congratulate  you  and  the 
country,  that  in  your  city  a  Hall  has  been  erected  sacred 
to  liberty  and  free  discussion.  Born  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  at  a  very  early  age  removed  into  the  Western  Coun- 
try, I  was  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  at  the  adoption  of  her  Con- 
stitution, and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  last  thirty 
years,  have  borne  an  humble  part  in  the  Legislative 
Assembly  of  my  own  State,  where  by  my  best  efforts,  I 
have  constantly  endeavored  to  maintain  and  establish 
those  great  principles,  in  support  of  which  your  society 
is  now  engaged.  I  feel  unable  to  express  my  heartfelt 
emotions,  on  receiving  your  invitation  to  be  present  at  the 
opening  of  the  Hall  in  the  emporium  of  my  native  State, 
a  city  renowned  for  its  philanthropy  and  benevolence,  and 
now  affording  new  evidence  of  those  inestimable  virtues, 
by  the  erection  of  a  hall,  in  which  liberty  and  equality 
of  civil  rights  can  be  FREELY  discussed,  and  the  evils  of 
slavery  fearlessly  portrayed.  While  the  spirit  of  slavery 
is  grasping  at  the  power  of  our  country,  threatening  a 
18 


210  LIFE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS. 

disunion  of  the  States  unless  free  discussion  concerning 
it  be  destroyed,  and  even  in  the  free  States  marking  its 
progress  in  scenes  of  blood  ;  it  is  a  cause  for  joy  and  con- 
gratulation that  Pennsylvania  —  that  PHILADELPHIA  is 
about  to  consecrate  one  spot,  at  least,  where  its  evils  may 
be  fearlessly  portrayed.  Slavery  is  a  spirit  which  hates 
the  light,  because  its  deeds  are  evil,  and  to  banish  it 
entirely  from  our  country,  free  discussion  alone  is  amply 
sufficient.  I  rejoice  in  the  awakening  energies  of  the 
country,  and  in  receiving  almost  daily  assurance  that  my 
fellow  citizens  are  determined  to  maintain  those  inaliena- 
ble rights,  without  which  they  would  be  in  a  situation 
little  in  advance  of  the  African  slave  himself 

I  will,  if  life  and  health  permit,  endeavor  to  be  present 
at  the  opening  of  your  Hall,  but  I  would  gladly  dispense 
with  the  delivery  of  an  address  on  that  occasion,  could  I 
do  so  consistent  with  your  wishes,  as  I  can  not  suppose 
myself  capable  of  adding  any  information  to  that  mass 
which  is  already  before  the  public,  on  this  interesting 
topic ;  but  whatever  feeble  service  I  can  render  to  the 
great  and  good  cause  in  which  you  are  engaged,  will  be 
cheerfully  offered. 

You  will,  for  yourselves,  and  those  whom  you  repre- 
sent, accept  the  assurance  of  my  highest  regard. 

THOMAS  MOBRIS. 
MESSRS.  SAMUEL  WEBB,  J.  M.  TRUMAN, 
AND  WM.  M'KEE,   Committee. 

The  following  letter  from  Thomas  Morris  was  also 
received  by  the  Committee  : 

WASHINGTON,  May  11,  1838. 

GENTLEMEN  :  —  I  have  seen  in  the  Pennsylvania  Freeman 
of  the  3d  inst.,  with  sensations  of  the  deepest  gratitude, 
the  favorable  notice  you  have  been  pleased  to  take  of  my 
name,  in  your  general  invitation  to  the  public  to  attend  the 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  211 

opening  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hall  on  the  14th  of  the 
present  month,  which  Hall,  I  understand,  is  dedicated  to 
free  discussion. 

It  would  afford  me  the  highest  pleasure  to  be  present 
and  join  you  in  this  work  of  universal  charity  and  love, 
could  I  feel  that  my  public  duties  as  well  as  my  health 
would  justify  it —  domestic  concerns  having  lately  called 
me  to  Ohio  ;  I  have  but  just  resumed  my  seat  here ;  it 
seems  proper,  therefore,  that  I  should  not  willingly,  at 
this  time,  absent  myself  from  the  Senate. 

Your  Hall,  as  I  have  said,  is  to  be  dedicated  to  free 
discussion.  What  a  train  of  solemn  reflections  does  the 
very  thought  create  in  the  mind.  Is  it  possible,  that  in 
the  free  State  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  quiet  and  orderly 
city  of  Philadelphia,  (a  city  not  inaptly  called  the  city  of 
"brotherly  love,")  that  in  all  places,  and  all  times, free 
discussion  on  all  questions  connected  with  the  religion, 
morality,  the  welfare  of  the  country,  or  the  rights  of  man, 
can  not  be  had  with  safety  to  the  citzen,  and  the  peace 
and  quiet  of  the  community  ?  I  presume  this  can  not  be 
the  case  in  your  city,  and  was  not  the  great  moving  cause 
that  induced  your  humane,  philanthropic,  and  patriotic 
citizens  to  erect  the  Hall  which  they  are  about  to  open. 

If,  however,  Pennsylvania  is  safe,  if  Philadelphia  is 
secure  from  all  attempts  to  put  down  the  right  of  free 
discussion,  the  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  press,  your  fellow 
citizens  have  seen  and  felt  that  all  parts  of  our  beloved 
country  is  not  thus  highly  favored.  It  is  gratifying, 
indeed,  that  while  the  enemy  of  human  rights  and 
Constitutional  liberty,  is,  in  our  country,  making  rapid 
advances  to  power,  endeavoring  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  not 
to  silence  discussion,  but  even  to  muzzle  the  press  itself, 
knowing  that  his  principles  can  not  stand  the  test  of 
examination,  Philadelphia  has  the  honor  to  erect  a  barrier 
which  he  can  not  pass,  and  a  battery  which  he  can  not 
silence,  but  which  will  effectually  destroy  his  whole 


212  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

power,  by  the  consecration  of  a  spot  where  all  his  preten- 
sions may  be  fully  and  fairly  discussed. 

This  act  of  your  citizens  I  regard  not  as  a  local  act 
merely.  It  is  not  for  Philadelphia  alone  to  receive  its 
benefits,  but  the  whole  country  —  the  whole  world.  Its 
objects  are  universal  and  impartial  justice  to  all  men  in 
every  condition,  to  establish  each  in  his  own  inherent, 
individual,  and  inalienable  rights,  to  give  warning  of 
approaching  danger,  and  stay  the  rod  of  the  oppressor  ; 
and  as  such,  we  claim  for  the  day  of  consecration  a  bright 
page  in  the  history  of  our  country. 

Every  philanthropist,  every  moralist  must  mourn  and 
deplore  the  riots,  burnings,  and  murders,  that  of  late 
have  taken  place  in  our  country.  Your  own  recollections 
will  be  sufficient  to  place  before  your  mind  scenes  of  the 
most  outrageous  atrocity.  How  often  has  tidings  of  the 
destruction  of  the  press,  because  it  has  spoken  fearlessly 
in  defense  of  human  rights,  tingled  in  your  ears  !  Have 
you  not  heard  that  free  born  AMERICAN  CITIZENS  have 
been;  by  a  lawless  mob,  subjected  to  the  infamous  torture 
of  the  WHIP?  Has  not  the  weapon  of  the  assassin  laid 
its  victim  bleeding  at  his  feet,  for  no  crime,  for  no  act  but 
that  which  you  intend  to  practice  in  the  Hall  you  have 
erected  —  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  FREE  DISCUSSION  ? 
While  I  rejoice  that  your  citizens  are  embodying  them- 
selves to  march  forward  to  the  rescue,  I  mourn  for  my 
country  that  this  same  fell  spirit  which  has  urged  mobs, 
not  only  of  the  "  baser  sort,"  but  of  citizens  who  claim  to 
be  respectable,  to  deeds  of  violence  and  blood,  has  found 
its  way  in  some  degree  into  the  councils  and  the  official 
stations  of  the  country,  into  the  bosom  of  society,  and  I 
much  fear  into  the  very  PULPIT  itself,  thus  rendering 
insecure  all  that  is  dear  and  sacred  to  man. 

I  would  willingly  draw  a  veil  over  the  proceedings  of 
that  body,  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  member,  in 
regard  to  the  important  right  of  fret  discussion,  if  the 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  213 

deep  sense  of  the  obligations  of  duty  which  1  feel  to  you 
and  the  country,  would  permit  me  to  do  so.  This  same 
spirit,  which  you  are  about  so  nobly  to  rebuke,  has  been 
able,  in  the  very  halls  of  Congress,  to  silence  debate  at 
its  pleasure.  It  has  been  able  to  strike  its  deadly  fangs 
into  the  most  vital  part  of  American  liberty.  It  has 
denied  the  right  of  petition,  in  all  its  essential  qualities, 
to  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow  citizens,  on  a  subject  they 
deemed  worthy  of  their  highest  consideration,  and 
materially  affecting  the  honor  and  interest  of  our  country. 
If  it  were  possible,  I  would  $hat  I  could  persuade  myself 
not  to  believe  this  ;  but  while  the  records  of  our  country 
bear  witness  to  the  fact,  it  can  not  be.  I  fervently  pray 
that  the  tear  of  some  recording  angel  may  yet  be  dropped 
upon  the  words  of  shame  and  dishonor,  and  blot  them  out 
forever. 

If  the  supreme  Legislature  of  the  country  can  right- 
fully, in  any  one  possible  instance,  refuse  to  receive,  hear, 
and  act  upon  petitions  sent  by  any  portiop  of  the  human 
race  who  are  subject  to  our  laws,  or  owe  allegiance  to  our 
Government,  I  can  see  no  safe  guaranty  for  this  high 
privilege  in  any  case  whatever,  when  it  shall  come  in 
contact  with  power,  interest,  or  influence.  For  if  an 
individual  right  which  was  deemed  of  a  character  too 
sacred  to  be  regulated  or  controlled  by  the  people  them- 
selves, by  their  highest  fundamental  law,  (the  Constitu- 
tion,) and  placed  by  that  instrument  above  the  power  of 
Congress  to  ABRIDGE — can  be  withheld  or  restrained  by 
that  body,  it  is  hard  to  discover  what  political  or  natural 
right  you,  or  I,  or  any  other  citizen,  can  calculate  upon 
as  secure.  If  the  right  of  petition  fail  us,  will  it  not 
prove  that  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Constitution  is  rotten 
and  not  worth  our  care  ;  its  preservation  in  such  case  for 
any  valuable  purpose  might  well  be  considered  doubtful. 

It  is  not  only  the  right  of  petition  that  has  been 
abridged.  The  freedom  of  debate  hat  been  stricken  down,  and 


214  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

lieg  dead  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  We  are  compelled  ti 
submit  not  only  to  a  rule  which  imposes  silence  on  a 
question  to  lay  a  motion  or  proposition  on  the  table,  and 
which  a  majority  can  always  use  to  put  an  end  to  discus- 
sion disagreeable  to  them,  however  important  it  may  be 
to  others ;  but  the  country  now  mourns  the  loss  of  one  of 
her  most  talented  sons,  whose  life,  it  is  believed,  was  sacri- 
ficed for  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  free  discussion  in  the 
very  hall  of  Congress  itself.  It  would  be  some  consolation 
.if,  in  the  midst  of  this  war  upon  individual  rights,  this  want 
of  personal  security,  this  waste  of  political  privileges  in 
the  chambers  of  legislation,  the  judiciary  of  the  country 
remained  firm  and  uncontaminated.  But  here  we  have 
also  to  deplore,  that  the  incendiary  with  the  torch  in  his 
hand,  scarcely  extinguished,  with  which  he  had  attempted 
to  fire  his  neighbor's  dwelling,  because  of  that  neighbor's 
exercise  of  his  unquestionable  right  in  the  free  expression 
of  his  opinion  ;  and  the  mobocrat  who  has  attempted  to 
silence  the  press  by  its  destruction,  together  with  the 
assassin  whose  red  hands  are  yet  dripping  with  the  blood 
of  his  innocent  victim,  find  not  only  protection  but  favor ; 
and  this  new  code  of  morals  which  would  impose  restraint 
upon  the  expression  of  our  thoughts,  because  the  truth 
may  affect  some  pecuniary  interest,  or  expose  some 
wicked  practice,  teaches  the  doctrine  that  a  printing 
press  may  be  broken  up,  a  man's  house  may  be  burnt,  and 
the  owner  slain  by  violence,  and  yet  no  one  be  GUILTY  ! 
It  has  been  said,  and  I  think  truly,  that  the  verdicts  of 
juries  give  the  character  of  the  country.  What,  then, 
will  be  the  character  of  our  country  before  an  impartial 
world,  if  juries  shall  continue  to  lend  themselves  to  this 
same  spirit  of  misrule,  and  violence,  and  blood  ? 

But  if  we  withdraw  our  view  from  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  land,  from  men  in  official  stations,  and 
extend  it  over  the  country  at  large,  what  do  we  behold? 
The  Bowie-knife  and  the  pistol  substituted  for  reason  and 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  215 

argument,  usurping  the  power  of  the  laws,  or  setting 
them  at  defiance, — the  actors  professing  to  draw  the 
example  from  high  places  of  power,  and  justifying  them- 
selves by  the  actions  of  men  who  claim  to  be  among  our 
most  respectable  citizens.  It  is  against  the  freedom  of 
speech,  the  right  of  free  discussion,  that  these  ruffians  in 
society  wage  their  fiercest  war. 

I  am  aware  that  it  may  be  thought  that  I  have  written 
hard  things  against  my  fellow  citizens ;  but  do  not  the 
facts  that  exist  justify  me  ?  And  should  I  not  be  faithless, 
indeed,  and  recreant  to  all  my  principles,  if,  when  writing 
to  you  on  the  important  event  which  you  are  about  to 
celebrate,  I  should  either  fail  or  fear  to  express  my 
thoughts  fully  and  freely  ?  If  I  did  not  do  so,  I  might 
well  be  considered  a  mocker  of  the  institutions  I  profess 
to  honor.  The  picture  I  have  presented,  I  know  is  one 
not  calculated  to  flatter  our  vanity ;  but  it  is  no  fancy 
sketch — it  has  all  the  painful  vividness  of  reality. 

We  should  ponder  on  the  signs  of  the  times  with  serious 
deliberation.  We  have  been  and  are  still  a  prosperous 
and  favored  people;  but  I  fear  that  in  the  eyes  of  Him 
in  whose  hands  are  our  destinies,  and  who  can  search  the 
heart,  we  are  viewed  as  a  proud  and  sinful  nation.  And 
if  his  chastisements  have  not  already  commenced,  our 
wickedness,  without  repentance,  must  call  them  down  at 
last. 

To  understand  our  errors,  and  know  the  evil  that 
besets  us,  is  the  first  step  toward  reformation.  To 
examine  into,  and  ascertain  the  causes  which  have  produced 
those  evils,  is  necessary  to  their  radical  cure.  This 
examination  I  shall  now  attempt.  There  is  implanted  in 
our  very  nature  a  love  of  power  and  dominion,  no  doubt 
for  wise  and  beneficial  purposes;  but  dominion,  in  the 
creation  of  man,  was  only  given  him  over  "the  fish  of  tne 
sea,  the  fowl  of  the  air,  the  cattle,  and  every  creeping , 


216  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  face  of  the  earth."  It  was 
never  intended  by  the  Creator  that  man  should  have 
dominion  over  his  fellow-man,  but  by  his  full  and  free 
consent.  Had  this  been  intended,  it  would  have  been 
given  when  the  boundaries  of  man's  dominion  were  fixed 
and  established.  The  exercise,  then,  of  all  power  which 
subjects  man  to  involuntary  servitude,  and  to  a  dominion 
to  which  he  has  not  given  his  full  and  free  consent,  is  a 
violation  of  the  laws  of  heaven,  and  contrary  to  the  very 
nature  of  man,  who,  though  formed  for  dominion  and 
imbued  with  its  love,  yet  has  authority  from  his  Maker  to 
exercise  it  only  over  inanimate  matter,  and  over  creatures 
not  made  in  the  bright  image  of  God  ! 

But  when  man  became  wicked  and  corrupt,  he  began 
to  usurp  dominion  over  his  fellow-man,  reducing  the 
weaker  and  less  guarded  portions  of  the  race  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  cattle  of  the  field.  This,  however,  could  not 
totally  destroy  the  principle  of  reason  within  the  immortal 
creature  thus  degraded ;  he  knew  still  that  he  was  entitled 
to  the  same  rights  as  his  fellow-man,  and  that  his  con- 
dition was  the  effect  of  gross  injustice  and  grinding 
oppression.  This  produced  the  constant  strife  between 
the  oppressed  and  oppressor,  the  fruitful  source  of  vio- 
lence and  crime  through  all  time,  and  created  the  desire 
and  stimulated  the  action  of  those  in  power  to  prevent, 
as  far  as  possible,  all  examination  into  the  rights  of  man 
as  established  by  his  Creator. 

The  exercise  of  dominion  begat  the  love  of  ease  and 
opulence.  This  could  more  readily  be  obtained  by  appro- 
priating to  his  own  use  the  labor  of  others  without  any 
just  compensation  therefor.  Thus  the  love  of  money,  the 
root  of  all  evil,  grew  and  expanded.  In  our  own  time 
and  day,  those  principles  which  our  father's  intended  to 
subdue  and  eradicate,  if  possible,  in  the  formation  of  a 
Constitution  founded  upon  the  natural  and  inalienable 


LITE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  217 

rights  of  man,  have  sprouted  afresh,  with  a  luxuriance 
which  is  calculated  to  fill  the  mind  of  the  just  and  good 
with  deep  and  solemn  reflection. 

I  have  heard  it  stated  by  a  sagacious  statesman  of  our 
own  country,  that  it  was  one  of  the  unchanged  and 
unchangeable  laws  of  Providence,  that  one  man  should 
live  upon  the  labor  of  another,  that  this  always  had  and 
always  would  be  the  case,  and  that  American  slavery,  as  it 
existed  in  the  Southern  States,  was  the  best  human  modification 
of  that  unalterable  decree.  This  was  the  language  of  a 
Southern  gentleman,  from  a  slaveholding  State.  The. 
practical  operation  of  this  despotic  system,  of  man  as  an 
individual  usurping  dominion  over  man,  and  endeavoring 
to  live  upon  the  labor  of  others,  began  in  our  country  with 
the  slaveholders,  and  its  ramifications  are  now  seen  and 
felt  in  all  parts  of  our  country.  The  desire  to  live  upon 
the  unrequited  labor  of  others,  is  acquiring  a  dreadful 
universality.  It  is  the  slaveholding  power, — this  Goliath 
of  all  monopolies, — that  now  brandishes  his  spear  and 
threatens  the  overthrow  of  our  most  essential  rights,  and 
the  most  sacred  of  all  our  privileges.  It  defies  even  the 
Constitution  itself,  to  engage  in  single  combat.  It  claims 
to  be  before  and  superior  to  that  instrument,  which  it 
contends  has  acknowledged  its  superiority,  and  has  guar- 
anteed its  existence  and  perpetual  duration.  It  impe- 
riously asserts  that  it  has  converted  men  into  property ; 
and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  any  person,  when  he  becomes 
a  CITIZEN  of  the  United  States,  has  a  right  to  the  enjoy- 
ment and  use  of  this  species  of  property,  in  each  and 
every  State  in  the  Union.  It  is  upon  this  false  position, 
that  a  person  can  be  converted  by  law  into  u  thing,  that 
slavery  rests  its  whole  claim  —  a  position  at  war  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  which  ou^ht  not 
to  be  sustained  in  our  courts  of  justice.  It  is  provided  in 
the  fourth  article  of  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
that  the  right  of  the  PEOPLE  to  be  secure  in  their  PERSONS 
19 


218  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

against  unwarrantable  seizure  shall  not  be  violated  ;  and 
that  warrants  when  issued,  shall  particularly  describe 
the  PERSONS  or  THINGS  to  be  seized.  I  suggest,  then,  as 
the  settled  conviction  of  my  own  mind,  that  our  courts  of 
justice  can  not  rightfully  adjudge  that  a  Negro  slave  is 
property,  BECAUSE  HE  is  NOT  A  THING,  and  property  con- 
sists in  things  ONLY.  That  he  may  be  claimed  as  owing 
labor  or  service  to  another,  does  not  shake,  but  confirms 
the  argument. 

If  the  free  States  intend  to  continue  free,  as  it  respects 
negro  slavery,  and  all  its  concomitant  evils,  they  must 
not  permit  that  system  to  take  one  single  step  beyond  its 
Constitutional,  legal,  and  present  geographical  bounda- 
ries. If  it  can  break  one  bar  of  its  enclosure,  it  will  be 
like  the  unchained  lion  escaping  from  his  cage  —  it  will 
make  war  upon  and  destroy  every  obstacle  that  opposes 
its  onward  march.  It  will  be  insatiate  until  all  Consti- 
tutional barriers  which  may  impede  its  progress  shall  be 
broken  down  and  destroyed ;  we  shall  be  unable  to  stay 
its  fury,  or  appease  its  rage,  or  again  reduce  it  to  Consti- 
tutional limits;  and  the  consequences  will  be  that  our 
entire  liberties  will  be  annihilated.  The  evils  and  pro- 
pensities of  the  slaveholding  system,  which  I  have  but 
faintly  attempted  to  describe,  are  not  the  workings  of 
imagination.  I  draw  on  sober  realities  and  solemn  facts. 
Who  in  our  country  justified  slavery  during  the  war  of 
the  Eevolution  ?  No  one,  who  was  willing  to  defend  his 
country  from  the  grasp  of  the  oppressor,  or  shed  his  blood 
in  defense  of  her  liberties.  Who  justified  the  practice,  or 
contended  for  its  perpetual  duration,  at  the  close  of  that 
memorable  contest?  Not  a  single  hero  or  patriot  of  that 
day.  Did  any  one  attempt  to  make  its  chains  more 
strong,  or  bind  its  victims  more  securely,  or  enlarge  its 
borders  by  any  Constitutional  provision  ?  No,  not  one. 
Slavery  at  that  day  was  deemed  so  dissonant  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  American  liberty,  that  none  were  found  to  ren- 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  219 

dor  it  so  much  respect  as  to  insert  its  name,  or  even  the 
word  "slave,"  in  the  Constitution. 

All  then  looked  for  and  desired  the  speedy  downfall  of 
the  entire  system ;  and  Congress  proceeded  to  iix  limits 
to  its  power,  and  rebuke  its  practice  upon  every  possible 
occasion,  as  in  the  ordinance  in  the  year  1787,  for  the 
government  of  the  North-Western  Territory,  and  in  sub- 
sequent acts  passed  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution. 

But  slavery  flattered  the  pride  of  man,  because  it 
enabled  him  to  extend  his  legitimate  dominion  beyond  its 
just  and  rightful  landmarks.  It  gratified  his  cupidity  by 
increasing  the  means  of  enjoyment.  It  was  adhered  to, 
not  as  a  political,  but  as  an  individual  claim,  and  was  left 
subject  to  the  power  of  the  laws ;  and  in  that  day,  like 
all  other  subjects,  it  was  freely  discussed  at  all  times  and 
in  all  places  without  fear  or  restraint.  But  what  is  the 
condition  of  the  country  now?  Slaves  have  increased 
vastly  in  number,  and  the  power  of  the  slaveholder  in 
equal  degree.  The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  gave  new 
impulse  to  this  power;  but  it  was  never  practically 
demonstrated  until  the  application  by  Missouri  to  be 
admitted  into  the  Union.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that 
the  first  triumph  was  obtained  on  the  floor  of  Congress, 
by  the  slaveholding  power,  over  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  of  that  of  Missouri. 

The  people  of  Missouri  formed  for  themselves  a  Consti- 
tution, in  which  they  had  given  their  Legislature  full 
authority  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  any  slave  into 
that  State,  for  the  purpose  of  speculation,  or  as  an  article 
of  trade  or  merchandise.  "When  she  presented  herself  for 
admission  into  the  Union,  the  slaveholding  power  in  Con- 
gress objected  to  the  exercise  of  this  authority  remaining 
with  her  Legislators ;  and  the  final  compromise  was.  not 
to  compel  Missouri  to  change  her  Constitution,  but  that 
her  Legislature,  by  a  solemn  public  act,  to  be  made  in 
pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  Congress,  should  provide  and 


220  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

declare  that  the  before-mentioned  provision  in  her  Con- 
stitution should  never  be  construed  to  authorize  the  pas- 
sage of  any  law,  and  that  no  law  should  be  passed  in 
conformity  thereto,  by  which  any  citizen  of  either  of  the 
States  of  this  Union  should  be  excluded  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  any  of  the  privileges  and  immunities  to  which 
such  citizens  were  entitled,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  This  compromise,  which  I  consider  one 
of  the  darkest  pages  in  the  history  of  Congress,  though 
submitted  to  by  the  people  of  Missouri,  was  severely 
rebuked  by  them  at  that  time.  This  was  the  first  open 
step  to  place  slavery  under  the  provisions  of  that  Consti- 
tution which  was  formed  for  the  safety  and  security  of 
liberty.  It  assumes  the  principle,  though  covertly,  that 
man  may  be  made  property,  and  that  a  citizen  of  either 
State  has  a  right  to  make  merchandize  of  him  if  a"  slave, 
to  use  him  in  trade  as  a  chattel,  to  sell  him  in  any  State 
in  which  slavery  exists  for  the  purpose  of  speculation, 
and  that  such  State  has  no  power  to  prohibit  the  sale. 
This  to  my  mind  is  a  monstrous  principle,  and  at  open 
variance  with  every  provision  of  a  Constitution,  immo- 
lated, in  this  compromise,  on  the  altar  of  slavery. 

The  slaveholding  power  having  thus  obtained  a  foot- 
hold on  the  ramparts  of  the  Constitution,  by  a  violation 
of  its  spirit  and  its  letter,  now  claims  that  violation  as 
evidence  of  the  right  itself,  and  boldly  asserts  that  the 
Constitution  recognises  slavery  as  one  of  the  institutions 
of  the  country,  and  that  the  right  of  the  slaveholder  to 
his  slave  is  derived  from  that  instrument.  It  is  here 
the  question  must  be  met,  and  decided.  The  arrogance 
of  the  slaveholding  power,  in  trampling  down  the  right 
of  petition,  and  denying  the  freedom  of  debate,  are  only 
consequences  resulting  from  this  assumption  of  power, 
and  is  a  foretaste  of  what  we  may  expect,  when  it  shall 
have  completely  established  itself  (should  it  be  permitted 
to  do  so),  within  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  That 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  221 

instrument  will  then  be  no  longer  what  it  now  is,  the 
home  of  Liberty.  It  will  be  made  it8  grave.  This  is  the 
first  great  and  combined  interest  in  this  country  which 
strikes  at  equal  rights ;  but  all  other  special  and  local 
interests  have  the  same  tendency,  when  they  claim  pecu- 
liar or  exclusive  privileges. 

The  monied  interest  is  next  to  be  feared,  and  whenever 
that  or  any  other  shall  have  acquired  sufficient  strength, 
to  induce  or  influence  Congress  to  legislate  for  its  special 
benefit,  there  will  be  an  end  to  that  equality  of  rights 
which  the  Constitution  designed  to  establish  for  the 
benefit  of  all. 

That  our  liberties  are  assailed,  and  individual  as  well 
as  political  rights  disregarded  by  men  in  high  places  of 
power,  none  I  think,  will  presume  to  deny ;  but  that  the 
Union  or  the  Constitution  are  yet  so  far  endangered  as  to 
create  despondency,  I  can  by  no  means  admit.  The 
unnatural  matter  which  slavery  is  attempting  to  engraft 
upon  the  Constitution,  will  soon  be  blown  off  by  the 
breath  of  popular  opinion.  The  remedy  for  all  evils  in 
the  system  or  administration  of  our  Government  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  and  FREE  DISCUSSION — discussion 
without  fear  of  the  pistol  of  the  duellist,  the  knife  of  the 
assassin,  the  faggot  of  the  incendiary,  or  the  still  more 
dangerous  fury  of  the  unbridled  mob  —  that  free  discus- 
sion which  the  people  must  and  will  have,  soon  will  work 
out  an  effectual  cure.  It  is  not  in  the  nature  of  man,  to 
remain  forever  deprived  of  his  rights  in  a  country  like 
our  own. 

But  free  discussion  must  be  practised  to  produce  its 
salutary  effects.  You  and  your  fellow-citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia have  set  a  noble  example.  Though  the  sectarian  and 
bigot  may  exclude  you  from  his  sanctuary,  and  the  cring- 
ing sycophant  to  power  may  shut  you  out  from  the  Halls 
erected  at  your  expense,  and  consecrated  to  justice,  yet 
you  are  not  discouraged  but  have  again  erected  your  own 


222  LIFE    OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Hall  tor  a  noble  purpose — for  the  purpose  of  that  free  dis- 
cussion, without  which  religion  would  languish,  and  lib- 
erty and  justice  would  die.  I  congratulate  the  friends  of 
equal  rights  everywhere,  on  this  praiseworthy  effort.  I 
trust  its  influence  will  be  productive  of  much  good  to  the 
human  race.  I  hope  that  it  may  cross  the  mountains,  and 
descend  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  until  free  discussion 
shall  have  restored  the  purity  of  the  Constitution,  and  the 
reign  of  righteous  law.  It  will  be  then,  and  not  till  then, 
that  the  value  and  merit  of  your  proceeding  in  this  mat- 
ter will  be  duly  appreciated,  and  Pennsylvania  will  be 
considered  as  having  furnished  new  evidence  that  she  is, 
in  reality,  the  Keystone  of  our  political  arch,  THE  ARK  OP 

OUR   POLITICAL   SAFETY. 

With  great  respect,  I  am,  gentlemen,      • 

Your  obedient  servant, 

THOMAS  MOKEIS. 

JOSEPH  M.  TRUMAN,  WM.  H.  SCOTT,  WM.  McKEE, 
SAMUEL  WEBB — Committee. 


LITE     OP     SENATOR    MORRIS.  223 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

RETIREMENT  from  the  Senate — Return  to  Ohio— Addresses  a  large  meet- 
ing in  Cincinnati — Applauded  by  the  Democracy — Activity  in  the 
cause — An  address  to  the  Liberty  Party — Nominated  for  Vice-President 
— Letter  on  that  subject — Attends  the  State  Liberty  Convention — His 
Address. 

THE  4th  of  March,  1839,  closed  his  official  responsibili- 
ties as  Senator  of  the  United  States ;  but  he  went  forth 
into  a  wider  field  of  action  and  usefulness.  Returning  to 
Ohio,  and  his  home,  with  the  armor  of  Liberty  on,  he 
re-entered  the  contest,  and  until  the  day  of  his  death 
fought  as  a  veteran  in  the  army  of  freedom. 

"  His  sword  was  in  his  hand, 

Still  warm  with  recent  fight, 
Ready,  that  moment,  at  command 
Through  rock  and  steel  to  smite !  " 

The  7th  of  May,  1839,  finds  him  in  the  city  of  Cincin- 
nati, before  a  large  meeting  of  his  fellow-citizens,  the 
unconquered  friend  of  freedom,  the  inveterate  enemy  of 
slavery.  That  meeting  is  described  by  Dr.  Bailey,  the 
present  accomplished  editor  of  the  National  Era,  then 
editor  of  the  Cincinnati  Herald,  as  follows : 

"Ex-Senator  Morris  holds  a  court-house  meeting,  in 
which  he  exposes  the  fearful  inroads  of  the  slave  power 
on  the  liberties  of  the  nation,  vindicates  Abolitionists, 
defends  his  own  course,  as  a  Senator,  on  slavery,  and 
insists  on  the  duty  of  every  citizen  in  the  free  States, 
solemnly  to  engage  in  lawful  efforts  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery. 


224  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

"  The  court-house  was  well  filled — the  speaker  occupied 
the  evening  till  some  time  past  10  o'clock.  We  should 
like  to  report  the  whole  speech ;  particularly  those  parts 
of  it  which  were  most  applauded.  But  we  can  not.  A 
majority  of  the  Abolitionists  of  the  city  knew  nothing  of 
the  meeting  till  it  was  over.  Of  course,  the  larger  portion 
of  those  present,  was  composed  of  the  speaker's  political 
friends. 

"  The  speech  was  listened  to  with  intense  interest,  and 
many  tokens  of  sympathetic  feelings.  There  was  no  vitu- 
peration in  any  part  of  it — nothing  sordid.  Mr.  Morris 
has  a  peculiarly  happy  way  of  presenting  a  point  with 
force  and  clearness,  so  that  the  mind  immediately  appre- 
ciates and  firmly  retains  it.  The  secret  of  his  influence 
over  his  party  is  to  be  found,  no  less  in  his  self-reliance, 
and  inimitable  boldness,  than  his  strong  intellect.  Per- 
fectly calm,  and  deliberate  almost  to  a  fault,  there  is  yet 
so  much  strength  in  the  views  he  presents,  and  such  a 
tone  of  deep  sincerity  in  every  word  he  utters,  that  he 
never  loses  the  attention  of  his  audience. 

"  It  is  a  fact,  worthy  of  particular  notice,  that  the  bold- 
est passages  in  Mr.  Morris's  speech,  those  containing  senti- 
ments which  Abolitionists  themselves,  as  a  body,  have 
not  generally  insisted  on,  were  precisely  the  parts  most 
cordially  applauded. 

"  "While  commenting  on  the  passage  of  the  Servile  Bill, 
and  the  base  subserviency  of  the  Legislature  to  the  dicta- 
tion of  Kentucky,  his  condemnation  of  its  conduct  was 
promptly  echoed  by  his  audience.  He  then  alluded  to  the 
fact,  that  he  had,  perhaps,  occupied  a  seat  in  the  Legisla- 
ture, for  a  longer  period  than  any  citizen  in  the  State,  and 
remarked,  that  had  such  an  embassy,  as  was  commissioned 
by  Kentucky  last  winter,  been  sent  to  Columbus  at  any 
time  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  legislative  body,  he 
could  have  secured  members  enough,  and  would  have 
done  it,  to  have  committed  those  gentlemen  to  prison ! 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  225 

On  which  the  people,  wrought  up  to  a  pitch  of  high  indig- 
nation at  foreign  dictation,  made  the  house  ring  with 
applause. 

"  On  tho  subject  of  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves,  he 
begged  leave  to  throw  out  a  suggestion.  It  might  startle 
them ;  but  he  must  express  his  opinion  frankly — others 
had  a  right  to  think  for  themselves.  And  he  would  be 
happy  to  discuss  the  point  with  any  Constitutional  lawyer 
in  Cincinnati,  the  suggestion  "  THAT  OHIO,  UNDER  THE 
FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION,  WAS  NOT  BOUND  TO  DELIVER  UP 
RUNAWAY  SLAVES."  Loud  cheering  followed  this  remark; 
and,  be  it  remembered,  Abolitionists  were  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  meeting.  The  applause  came  chiefly 
from  citizens  uncommitted  to  Abolition — most  of  them 
Democrats. 

"Another  remark  much  applauded,  was,  that  so  far 
from  passing  laws  to  enable  a  slaveholder  to  re-capture 
men  and  women,  whom  he  called  his  slaves,  in  Ohio,  he 
would  be  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  a  law,  punishing 
severely,  every  person,  who,  for  a  pitiful  reward,  would  in 
any  way  aid  in  the  capture  of  a  slave. 

"  If  we  mistake  not,  slaveholders  will  yet  have  cause  to 
repent  that  they  ousted  Thomas  Morris  from  office,  and 
thus  furnished  him  leisure  for  advocating  more  exten- 
sively and  effectively  Anti-slavery  doctrines  and  measures. 
Mr.  Morris  has  energy  and  influence  enough  to  work  a 
great  change  in  his  party." 

He  became  identified  with  the  Liberty  party,  and 
labored  for  its  efficient  organization  and  success.  In  the 
summer  of  1843,  he  issued  to  the  friends  of  Constitutional 
liberty,  in  Hamilton  county,  the  following  address : 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  : — At  a  late  meeting  of  the  friends  of 
Liberty,  in  Cincinnati,  the  undersigned  was  appointed  a 
Committee  to  address  you,  and  urge  the  necessity  of  more 
prompt  and  efficient  action  on  your  part,  in  the  cause  in 


226  LIFE    OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

which  you  are  engaged ;  for  without  such  action,  the 
friends  of  slavery  here  and  elsewhere,  will  say  in  derision 
(and  probably  with  too  much  truth),  that  all  your  profes- 
sions of  love  for  liberty,  are  but  hollow  pretensions. 

It  is  necessary  note,  that  every  one  of  you,  every  friend 
of  liberty,  should  faithfully  and  fearlessly  put  his  hand  to 
the  work,  and  do  all  in  his  power  to  abolish  the  wicked, 
the  deplorable,  and  ruinous  system  of  slavery  in  our 
country.  There  is  but  one  way  by  which  this  can  law- 
fully be  done ;  and  that  is  the  ballot  box. 

The  principal  disorders  in  our  country  are  engendered 
in,  and  flow  from  the  bitter  and  corrupting  fountain  of 
slavery ;  and  the  reason  is,  the  slave  power  has  become 
omnipotent.  It  governs  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  and 
thus  it  keeps  millions  of  the  human  race,  in  our  profes- 
sedly free  land,  in  the  most  abject  and  servile  bondage — 
making  one  portion  of  our  people  the  chattels  of  the  other. 
No  person  can  enjoy  that  liberty  promised,  and  intended 
to  be  secured,  by  the  Constitution,  while  another  is  held 
in  slavery.  It  is  a  perfect  solecism  to  say,  that  slavery  is 
the  corner  stone  of  our  republican  edifice. 

No !  it  is  more  like  a  pile  of  unstable  sand,  a  heap  of 
putrid,  rotten  dust,  blown  by  its  own  effervescence  into 
the  eyes  of  our  fellow-citizens,  perverting  their  vision.  It 
is  an  eating  cancer,  gnawing  at  the  very  vitals  of  our 
republican  institutions.  That  spirit  of  liberty  which 
breathes  through  our  Constitution,  must  soon  crush  and 
destroy  it,  or  slavery  will  soon  stifle  and  destroy  that 
spirit.  Then,  indeed,  will  our  republican  institutions 
become  rotten  and  corrupt  as  slavery. 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  signs  of  the  times.  The  slave 
power,  itself,  is  in  possession  of  all  the  important  stations 
of  the  country.  It  directs  all  our  councils  and  State 
affairs ;  the  ballot  box,  itself,  is  controlled  by  it ;  the  press 
and  the  pulpit  are  trampled  upon  by  it ;  while  every  prin- 
ciple of  justice  and  morality,  is  its  scoff  and  scorn.  It  has 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  227 

oaten  out  our  substance,  and  brought  upon  us  pecuniary 
embarrassment  and  public  disgrace.  Can  such  a  system 
continue  forever.  If  it  can,  then  indeed  are  our  declara- 
tions, that  Justice,  Liberty  and  Union,  are  established 
among  us,  idle  words,  vain  and  illusory ;  calculated 
only  to  deceive  and  destroy. 

No !  this  can  not  be.  There  is  yet  vitality  enough  in 
the  country  to  restore  the  Government  to  healthy  action  ; 
and  this  too,  in  spite  of  the  contending  political  parties, 
in  our  State,  who  are  sacrificing  all  their  professed  prin- 
ciples on  the  altar  of  slavery,  and  striving  with  each  other, 
who  shall  be  its  most  humble  apologists.  It  is  admitted 
that  Liberty  men  now  hold  the  balance  of  power  between 
them,  and  are  constantly  on  the  increase.  "We  say  to 
them  in  a  political  view,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth. 
Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  You  now  stand  conspic- 
uous before  the  nation  and  the  world ;  and  a  high  and 
important  duty  is  required  of  you.  Redeem  the  ballot  box 
from  the  power  of  slavery.  This  you  most  assuredly  will  do 
if  you  vote  right.  Sink  not  your  individuality  into  clan- 
ship. Believe  not  the  man  who  tells  you,  he  is  opposed 
to  slavery  as  much  as  you,  and  yet  votes  for  a  slave- 
dealer,  or  the  advocate  of  slavery,  to  fill  the  official  sta- 
tions in  our  country.  Remember,  "  you  can  not  serve  two 
masters  ; "  you  can  not  be  the  friend  of  slavery  and  the 
friend  of  freedom.  "Whence  come  the  oppression  and 
depression  of  your  country  and  its  affairs  ?  The  hard 
times  and  the  want  of  credit  and  confidence.  Does  all  this 
come  by  too  much  liberty,  or  too  much  slavery?  Answer 
this  to  your  judgment,  your  conscience,  and  your  country. 

Recollect,  we  beseech  you,  that  a  Liberty  Convention 
is  to  be  held  at  Mount  Pleasant,  in  this  county,  on  Tues- 
day, the  first  day  of  August  next ;  a  day  and  a  month 
made  memorable  in  the  annals  of  time,  by  the  emancipa- 
tion of  hundreds  of  thousands,  if  not  millions  of  the  human 
family  from  the  thraldom  of  slavery,  in  the  "West  India 


228  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Islands.  We  implore,  then,  one  and  all,  to  be  present  at 
that  Convention  ;  and  we  earnestly  invite  all  who  differ 
from,  us  in  this  matter  to  corae,  hear  and  judge  us  ;  and 
if  they  believe  we  are  wrong,  arraign  us  at  the  bar  of 
public  opinion.  "We  fear  not  the  strictest  scrutiny  into 
all  we  say,  and  all  we  do. 

We  are  always  ready  to  make  known  our  doctrines,  and 
test  our  principles  in  every  proper  place,  and  under  all 
circumstances.  The  object  of  our  opponents  is  to  silence 
us  and  extinguish  the  lights  we  are  kindling.  They  have 
no  other  hope  of  ultimate  triumph  over  us,  but  by  cover- 
ing us  with  darkness.  Come  then,  to  the  Convention, 
and  trim  your  fires  anew !  Come  and  convince  gainsayers 
that  you  intend  to  live  up  to  the  political  faith  you  pro- 
fess —  Justice  and  Liberty  to  ALL  !  Come  and  form  a 
ticket  for  yourselves  to  be  voted  the  ensuing  election ; 
composed  of  men  who  have  not  the  brand  of  slavery  on 
their  foreheads,  or  upon  their  flesh,  nor  love  of  slavery  in 
their  hearts ;  and  whose  souls  are  not  withered  and 
almost  dried  up  by  the  blasting  influence  and  poisonous 
breath  of  that  system.  Come,  and  swear  on  the  altar  of 
your  country's  liberty,  that  you  will  uniformly  and  con- 
stantly hereafter  attend  the  polls  of  your  elections,  and 
vote  to  sustain  liberty.  THOMAS  MORRIS. 

' 

This  earnest  address,  brought  a  large  Convention,  and 
the  name  of  Thomas  Morris  was  placed  on  the  Liberty 
ticket  as  State  Senator.  He  who  had  for  twenty-five 
years  been  elected  by  triumphant  majorities,  to  the  Legis- 
lature by  the  Democratic  party,  in  Clermont  county,  now 
entered  the  political  field  for  freedom. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  1839,  a  large  National  Anti-Slavery 
Convention  was  held  in  the  city  of  Albany,  New  York, 
the  object  of  which,  was  "  the  thorough  discussion  of 
those  great  principles,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the 
Abolition  enterprise  throughout  the  civilized  world  ;  and 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  229 

of  the  measures  which  are  suited  to  its  accomplishment 
in  the  United  States,  and  especially  those  which  relate  to 
the  right  of  suffrage  by  the  citizens  of  the  free  States." 
Mr.  Morris  having  been  hut  a  few  months  from  his  seat 
in  the  Senate,  was  invited  to  attend.  He  sent  the  follow- 
ing answer  to  the  Convention. 

CINCINNATI,  July  22,  1839. 

It  was  my  intention  to  have  been  with  you  at  the 
National  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  at  Albany  on  the  31st 
inst.,  and  I  had  made  preparations  to  leave  here,  for  that 
purpose  on  this  morning ;  but  the  state  of  my  health  and 
domestic  affairs  have  prevented  me. 

I  rejoice,  however,  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  through- 
out the  civilized  world,  is  no  longer  problematical.  It 
seems  to  be  almost  universally  conceded,  that  this  stupen- 
dous fraud  upon  a  portion  of  the  human  race,  is  fast 
issuing  to  a  close ;  and  the  great  question  truly  with  us  is, 
what  measures  are  best  to  accomplish  this  desired  result  in 
the  United  States.  In  our  otherwise  free  and  favored 
country,  slavery  seems  to  have  erected  its  strongest  hold, 
and  is  not  only  striving  to  govern  the  councils  of  the 
country,  the  press,  and  the  pulpit,  but  even  mind  itself, 
is  attempted  to  be  made. 

It  is  true,  they  are  yet  in  the  minority ;  but,  if  I  am 
not  mistaken,  in  every  age  and  country  of  the  world,  in 
which  men  have  been  compelled,  by  oppression,  to  strike 
for  freedom,  they  have  been  at  first  but  few  in  number  and 
a  persecuted  race.  But  where  they  have  been  sincere, 
making  truth  and  justice  their  guide,  success  has  been, 
universally,  the  final  result  of  their  efforts. 

With  us  the  slave  has  no  power  of  action  ;  nor  can  we 
consent  that  his  freedom  shall  be  purchased  by  his  own 
arm.  A  merciful  Providence,  in  order  to  prevent  such  a 
dreadful  catastrophe  has  brought  to  his  rescue,  and  united 
for  his  deliverance,  the  warmest  hearts  and  soundest 


230  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

heads  of  the  nation  ;  and  they  present  to  the  world  the 
new  and  cheering  phenomenon,  of  men  enjoying  all  the 
blessings  of  liberty  themselves,  yet  willing  to  devote 
their  time,  their  means,  their  all,  to  procure  for  the 
oppressed  and  down -trodden  slave,  those  natural  rights  to 
which  he  is  entitled,  and  which,  in  our  charters  of  free- 
dom, we  promise  to  all  men.  The  moral  power  of  such 
men  is  sufficient  for  this  work,  but  that  moral  power  must 
operate  by  means  to  make  it  effectual.  Political  action  is 
necessary  to  produce  moral  Reformation  in  a  nation;  and  that 
action,  with  us,  can  only  be  effectually  exercised  through  the 
Ballot  Box.  And  surely  the  Ballot  Box  can  never  be  used  for  a 
more  noble  purpose,  than  to  restore  and  secure  to  any  man,  his 
inalienable  rights.  It  seems  to  me  almost  impossible,  that  a 
man  can  be  in  favor  of  perpetuating  American  slavery, 
and  yet  be  a  friend  to  the  principles  of  our  Government. 
If  the  Ballot  Box,  then,  is  honestly  and  independently 
used,  it  alone  will  soon  produce  the  extinguishment  of 
slavery  in  our  country. 

I  am  able  to  say  to  you,  and  to  those  who  are  endeav- 
oring to  restore  the  slave  to  his  long  lost  rights,  that,  in 
the  "West,  the  cause  of  freedom  is  onward.  Men  speak,  as 
well  as  think,  on  the  subject.  Mind  is  meeting  mind,  and 
mutual  confidence  and  mutual  support  will  be  the  result. 

I  sincerely  regret  I  was  denied  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
the  friends  of  liberty  in  Convention  at  Albany;  but  there 
is  much  to  do  here,  and  I  find  it  not  in  my  power,  to 
comply  with  the  numerous  invitations  to  attend  meetings 
in  different  parts  of  my  own  State.  Though  the  friends 
of  the  slave  are  scattered  throughout  our  vast  country, 
yet  they  seem  to  be  actuated  by  the  same  impulse.  This 
I  trust,  will  afford  motives  to  perseverance  and  give 
encouragement  to  all. 

I  am,  with  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  231 

The  28th  of  December,  1842,  found  him  in  the  Capital 
of  Ohio,  a  member  of  the  State  Liberty  Convention. 
Through  Mr.  Morris,  the  Convention  requested  the  use 
of  the  Hall  of  the  Legislature  then  in  session,  for  its 
sittings.  The  request  was  virtually  denied  by  its  being 
postponed  to  the  second  Tuesday  of  October.  He  whose 
voice  had  rung  in  that  same  Hall,  for  twenty -four  years, 
as  a  Democratic  Eepresentative,  was  refused  the  privilege 
of  holding  a  Convention  in  it,  to  favor  the  true  doctrines 
of  Democracy,  and  to  resist  the  aggressions  of  slavery ! 
The  Convention  met  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  church. 

In  that  Convention,  Mr.  Morris  was  prominent.  A 
brief  sketch  is  preserved  of  his  address.  He  quoted  the 
remark  of  Coleridge — "It  is  a  profound  question  to 
answer,  why  it  is  that,  since  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Keformation  has  not  advanced  one  step  in  Europe."  He 
showed  the  reason  to  be,  that  Luther  contended  for  truth 
and  principles,  and  not  for  a  mere  sect,  and  that  his 
followers  had  labored  for  sect  more  than  for  principle. 

In  reference  to  the  subserviency  of  the  two  great 
parties  of  the  country  to  slavery,  he  said — "Both  parties 
are  very  subservient."  "  The  Democrats,"  said  he,  "  hold 
the  truth  in  unrighteousness."  Petitions  are  received  as  a 
matter  of  courtesy,  in  the  Legislative  Halls  of  Ohio ;  the 
right  of  petition  is  not  acknowledged  at  all.  He  said  that, 
in  the  Democratic  prescriptive  Convention  of  1840  (the 
one  in  which  he  was  cut  off  as  a  rotten  branch),  it  was 
stated  that  no  Democrat  could  be  an  Abolitionist.  He 
would  reverse  the  proposition,  and  say — "Every  Demo- 
|  crat  must  be  an  Abolitionist." 

At  another  point  in  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention, 
he  made  some  very  extended  remarks,  of  which  a  brief 
sketch  is  subjoined. 

Mr.  Morris  said,  the  American  people  were  responsible 
for  slaveholding  under  National  legislation.  He  did  not 
believe  there  was  any  warrant  for  such  legislation  in  the 


232  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Constitution ;  he  was  »ure  there  teas  nwic  in  (he  moral  code, 
which  wo*  at  the  foundation  of  all  valid  laic,  lie  could  not 
assent  to  the  monstrous  proposition  that,  "  What  the  law 
makes  property  is  property."  He  did  not  believe  a  slave 
could  breathe  in  Ohio.  A  person  held  to  service  in 
another  State,  escaping  into  this,  might  be  reclaimed  as  an 
escaping  servant — not  as  an  article  of  property — not  as 
a  slave.  Such  a  person,  in  Ohio,  has  every  right  that 
any  other  person  has,  subject  only  to  liability  to  reclama- 
tion. He  said,  no  slave  ought  to  be  content  with  his 
condition.  He  would  go  farther  than  the  Poet,  who  said — 

"The  day 
That  makes  a  man  a  stare,  takes  half  his  worth  away/' 

It  takes  all  his  worth  away.  He  could  not,  he  said, 
blame  the  slave  for  desiring  to  escape,  nor  could  he  blame 
those  who  aided  their  escape.  To  charge  such  persons  as 
criminals,  was  to  offend  common  sense  and  common  jus- 
tice. If  slavery  is  right,  it  is  right  to  aid  in  sending  back 
the  fugitive  —  not  otherwise.  He  would,  he  said,  make 
Ohio  a  free  State  in  reality.  Ho  would  enforce  the  great 
principles  of  liberty  proclaimed  in  the  Constitution.  He 
would  have  no  State  officer  or  State  magistrate  dese- 
crating his  office,  by  prostituting  it  to  the  purposes  of  the 
slaveholder.  He  commented  on  the  wavering  and  unsta- 
ble conduct  of  the  other  parties  ;  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Fugitive  Bill  of  Ohio  ;  on  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  one 
of  the  greatest  slave-marts  in  the  world,  at  the  Seat  of 
Government ;  on  the  slave  representation  of  twenty -five 
members  in  Congress ;  on  the  compact  and  concentrated 
energy  of  the  slave  power;  on  the  negotiations  set  on 
foot  and  carried  on,  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the 
market  for  slave  labor  products ;  the  total  neglect  of  all 
effort  to  extend  the  markets  for  free  labor ;  on  the  sinking 
of  three  or  four  hundred  millions  of  the  earnings  of  free 
labor  in  the  gulf  of  slaveholding  bankruptcy.  He  said, 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  233 

that  slavery  had  literally  eaten  up  the  Banks,  and,  like 
Pharaoh's  lean  cattle,  had  devoured  the  prosperity  of 
others,  without  promoting  their  own. 

During  the  meeting  of  this  Convention,  Mr.  Morris 
rose  and  said,  that  he  had  been  honored,  by  a  Convention 
which  met  in  New  York,  in  May,  1841,  with  a  nomination 
for  the  Vice -Presidency.  He  felt  it  to  be  a  very  high 
honor.  He  prized  that  mark  of  confidence  beyond  any 
office  which  either  of  the  other  parties  could  bestow 
But  when  the  nomination  was  made,  the  Liberty -Party 
was  imperfectly  organized,  and  much  smaller  than  at 
present.  He  had,  therefore,  delayed  the  acceptance  of 
the  nomination ;  and  now,  in  view  of  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  Party,  and  of  future  unanimity  of  action,  he  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  to  decline  it,  in  order  that  another 
.Convention,  representing  the  greater  numbers  which  now 
compose  and  are  continually  joining  the  Liberty  Party, 
might  have  an  opportunity  to  act  upon  it. 

Mr.  Morris  retired ;  and  the  Convention  unanimously 
declared  by  a  resolution,  that  we  "do  cordially  approve 
the  course  pursued  by  that  veteran  and  consistent  friend 
of  liberty  j  and  invite  the  Liborty  Men  of  the  United 
States  to  meet  in  Convention  at  Buffalo,  on  the  28th  day 

of  June,  1843." 

' 

20 


234  LIFK    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

REOAPTUEE  of  Fugitive  Slaves  —  Compromises  of  the  Constitution; 
Readjustment  of  Compromise  Measures  in  I860  —  Fugitive  Slave  Bill ; 
Opposition  to  it — President  Pierce's  opinion  of  it  —  Approved  by  Presi- 
dent Fillmore  —  His  former  Anti-slavery  Sentiments  — Commissioners 
sent  from  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  to  Ohio,  in  1839 — Ask  Ohio  to  aid 
in  Recapturing  their  Slaves  —  How  received  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio ; 
Black  Laws  of  Ohio  —  Mr.  Morris's  labors  for  their  overthrow  —  His 
views  on  the  duties  of  States  in  the  rendition  of  Slaves  —  Report  of 
Judge  Smith  in  the  Senate  of  Ohio  in  1837— Mr.  Morris's  elaborate 
reply  to  it. 

THE  Eecapture  of  fugitive  slaves,  has  given  to  the 
system  of  American  slavery  a  profound  interest  and 
agitation  both  North  and  South.  Slaves  are  human 
beings,  and  have  longings  for  liberty.  This  living  spark, 
not  extinguished,  even  in  the  soul  of  the  bondman  of  the 
South,  has  led  thousands  of  slaves,  to  seek  deliverance 
from  slavery,  and  the  blessing  of  personal  freedom.  Some 
of  the  most  romantic  and  heroic  achievements  in  history, 
are  those  that  record  the  daring  efforts  and  adventures  of 
slaves  to  escape  from  bondage.  Their  heroism,  in  ancient 
days,  would  have  secured  them  monuments,  and  immor- 
talized their  names. 

In  the  organization  of  the  Government,  a  provision  was 
inserted  in  the  Constitution,  that  "No  person  held  to 
service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another  State,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service 
and  labor;  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 

This  was  a  compromise  between  the  North  and  the 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  235 

ttouth,  in  order  that  tho  Union  might  be  formed,  and  the 
Government  go  into  harmonious  operation.  This  Consti- 
tutional provision  was  a  temporary  sacrifice  of  rights,  for 
the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  interests  of  all  sections  of 
country.  The  North  and  South  expected,  and  desired, 
the  speedy  extinction  of  slavery,  and  its  extension  into 
new  territory,  was  not  contemplated  by  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution. '  Hence  it  was  agreed,  that  the  South 
would  not  attempt  to  carry  slavery  into  new  Territories, 
and  the  North  would  extend  a  certain  degree  of  protec- 
tion to  the  interests  of.  the  South,  by  allowing  the  recovery 
of  fugitive  slaves  in  the  Free  States. 

This  provision,  however,  in  the  course  of  time,  was 
found  inadequate  for  the  slave  interests  of  the  South. 
The  growing  sentiments  of  the  country  against  the  evils 
of  slavery,  and  the  growing  sentiments  of  freedom  among 
a  large  number  of  slaves,  who,  by  increasing  numbers 
escaped,  made  the  property  of  human  chattels,  more  and 
more  insecure.  A  new  surrender  must  be  made  on  the 
part  of  the  North. 

In  a  new  adjustment  of  political  affairs,  in  1850,  when 
California  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  a  Fugitive  Slave 
Bill  was  passed  by  Congress,  far  more  stringent  and 
oppressive  than  any  previous  legislation.  This  Bill,  in 
the  North,  produced 'general  dissatisfaction. 

It  made  every  man  a  "  slave  catcher."  "All good  citizen* 
are  hereby  commanded,  to  aid  and  assist  in  tho  prompt  and 
efficient  execution  of  this  law,  whenever  their  services 
may  bo  required,"  and  any  attempt  to  aid  a  slave,  directly 
or  indirectly  to  escape,  subjected  the  offender  to  a  fine  of 
$1000,  and  six  months  imprisonment.  It  also  destroyed 
the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  by  allowing  the  claimant  of  a 
slave  to  file  his  certificate  before  a  Commissioner,  and  on 
that  certificate  the  slave  must  be  surrendered,  in  the  face 
of  "  a  process  issued  by  any  Court  or  Judge,  Magis- 
trate or  other  person  whomsoever."  This  feature  of  the 


236  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  ~ 

Bill,  conflicts  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
where  it  declares  that  "  The  privilege  by  the  writ  of 
Habeas  Corpus,  shall  not  be  suspended  unless  when  in 
cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may 
demand  it."  It  made  humanity  a  crime,  and  is  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  "  higher  law "  of  God,  that 
declared,  "  Thou  shall  not  deliver  vnto  hi$  master,  tJie  servant 
which  is  escaped  from  his  master  unto  thce,"  and  against  that 
Christian  law,  "  That  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  also  unto  them." 

This  bill  passed  Congress  and  became  the  law  of  the 
nation.  Northern  statesmen  gave  it  their  votes  and  influ- 
ence, and  on  the  18th  of  September,  1850,  it  received  the 
approval  of  President  Fillmore,  who,  as  a  Eepresentative 
in  Congress,  and  through  most  of  his  political  life,  had 
been  distinguished  for  his  opposition  to  slavery. 

In  October,  1838,  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  of  Erie 
county,  New  York,  asked  Mr.  Fillmore's  views  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  He  returned  the  following  answer : 

BUFFALO,  Oct.  17,  1838. 

SIR — You  solicit  my  answer  to  the  following  interroga- 
tories: 

1st,  Bo  you  believe  that  petitions  to  Congress,  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  ought  to  be  received, 
read,  and  respectfully  considered  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people  ? 

2nd,  Are  you  opposed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  this 
Union,  so  long  as  slaves  are  held  therein  ? 

3d,  Are  you  in  favor  of  Congress  exercising  all  the 
Constitutional  powers  it  possesses,  to  abolish  the  internal 
slave  trade  between  the  States  ? 

4th,  Are  you  in  favor  of  immediate  legislation  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ? 

I  answer  all  your  interrogatories  in  the  affirmative. 

MILLARD  FILLMORE. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MOBRI8.  237 

The  present  President  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Pierce, 
wi  the  2d  of  January,  1852,  expressed  his  opinions  and 
feelings  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  as  follows :  "  I  have 
been  asked  if  I  like  this  Fugitive  Slave  Bill.  I  answer, 
No.  I  loathe  it.  I  have  a  most  revolting  feeling  at  giving 
up  a  slave.  The  law  is  opposed  to  moral  right  and 
humanity.  Slavery  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  in 
some  respects." 

Not  only  the  National  Legislature,  but  many  of  the  free 
States,  legislated  for  the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves,  giv- 
ing legal  facilities  to  slave  hunters,  to  arrest  the  fugitive 
in  his  pursuit  of  freedom. 

In  this  work  Ohio,  in  her  legislative  capacity,  was  prom- 
inent. Kentucky  was  losing  her  human  chattels,  from 
their  strong  love  of  liberty.  A  large  number  of  slaves, 
from  year  to  year,  made  their  escape,  and  passed  through 
Ohio  to  Canada,  their  only  safe  city  of  refuge  on  the 
American  Continent. 

To  remedy  this,  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  appointed 
a  special  embassy  to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio.  The  embas- 
sadors,  in  the  persons  of  Charles  T.  Morehead  and  John 
Speed  Smith,  entered  upon  the  immediate  execution  of 
their  mission,  and  arrived 'in  Columbus,  the  capital  of  Ohio, 
on  the  26th  of  January,  1839.  They  were  received  by  the 
Legislature  of  Ohio  with  distinguished  consideration,  and 
by  the  citizens  with  princely  attention  and  courtesy. 

In  an  address  to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  they  entreated 
that  body,  by  their  love  of  the  "Union,  and  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  by  every  motive  of  patriotism,  "to  provide  all 
needful  enactments,  to  prevent  evil  disposed  persons,  who 
may  shelter  themselves  within  the  jurisdiction  or  limits 
of  Ohio,  from  enticing  away  the  slaves  of  the  citizens  of 
Kentucky,  or  aiding,  or  assisting,  or  concealing  them  after 
they  shall  have  reached  the  borders  of  that  State ;  and 
also,  to  pass  an  act,  to  provide  more  efficient  and  certain 
means  for  recapturing  and  bringing  away  absconding 


238  LIFE    Oy    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


slaves,  by  their  masters,  or  their  legally  authorised 
agents."  "  The  confidence  of  Kentucky  is  full  in  the  jus- 
tice, good  feeling,  and  comity  of  Ohio." 

The  commissioners  were  entirely  successful.  In  less 
than  thirty  days,  the  Legislature  passed  "  An  Act  relat- 
ing to  Fugitives  from  Labor,  or  Service  from  other  States," 
which  passed  on  the  24th  of  February,  1839,  and  which 
declared  that  "  If  any  person,  or  persons,  in  this  State, 
shall  counsel,  advise,  or  entice  any  other  person  or  per- 
sons, who  by  the  laws  of  another  State  shall  owe  labor  or 
service  to  any  other  person  or  persons,  to  leave,  abandon, 
abscond,  or  escape,  or  shall  furnish  money,  or  conveyance, 
or  any  other  facility  for  enabling  such  persons  owing 
labor,  or  service,  to  escape  from,  or  elude  the  claimant, 
every  person  so  offending  shall  be  fined  in  any  sum  not 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  and  bo  imprisoned  in  the 
jail  of  the  county,  not  exceeding  sixty  da^s,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Court."  An  effort  was  made  to  insert  a 
provision,  that  such  persons  "should  be  punished  by 
imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary,  and  be  answerable  to 
the  party  injured  four-fold  damages." 

This  submission  of  Ohio  at  the  foot  of  the  slave  power, 
roused  the  spirit  of  incensed  justice  and  freedom  in  Ohio. 
The  law  converted  the  soil  of  Ohio,  solemnly  consecrated 
to  freedom,  into  a  hunting-field  for  slaves,  and  made  it  a 
penal  offense  to  give  a  cup  of  cold  water,  or  a  piece  of 
bread  to  a  poor,  starving  fugitive,  on  his  way  to  freedom. 
It  made  humanity,  and  a  Christian  duty,  a  crime. 

"  Alas  for  freedom  !  if  such  fruits  as  these 
Grow  on  the  branches  of  her  spreading  trees. 
Alas  for  freedom  !  if  the  poor  oppressed 
Find  no  sweet  sympathy  within  her  breast. 
Alas  !  alas  !  when  ye,  who  claim  to  be 
The  great  and  generous,  wise  and  truly  free, 
Scoff  at  a  brother,  turn  in  scorn  away, 
Because  he  wears  a  robe  of  darker  clay." 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  239 

Mr.  Morris  labored  for  the  overthrow  of  these  unjust 
laws,  which,  on  account  of  their  severity,  were  stigmatized 
as  the  Black  Laws  of  Ohio ;  and  he  lived  to  see  them 
expunged  from  the  statute-book  of  the  State. 

On  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  Mr.  Morris  had 
thought  profoundly,  and  anxiously.  His  views  wore  often 
boldly  expressed,  in  his  public  addresses,  and  in  written 
opinions.  The  reader  is  presented  with  two  papers  on  the 
subjecf'of  the  Duties  of  the  States  in  relation  to  Fugitives 
from  Labor.  The  first  is  as  follows  : 

Dr.  BAILY  :  In  the  Philanthropist  of  the  14th  inst.,  (May 
1839,)  you  have  given  to  the  public,  a  statement  of  What 
you  call  "  another  Court  House  Meeting,"  in  which  you 
suggest  that  "  I  advanced  the  ideu,  that  Ohio,  under 
the  Federal  Constitution;  was  not  bound  to  deliver  up 
runaway  slaves."  This,  though  correct  in  the  main,  does 
not  so  fully  express  what  I  said  on  that  point  as  I  could 
wish.  I  remarked,  that  the  States  as  parties  to  the  Fed- 
eral Compact  were  themselves  judges  of  the  time  and 
manner  for  the  performance  of  those  duties  which  that 
contract  required  of  each,  for  carrying  on  its  operations. 
That  the  States  respectively  had  reserved  to  themselves 
the  power  to  protect,  and  also  to  prevent  the  abduction 
of  any  person  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  from  being 
transported  out  of  the  State,  without  the  assent  of  such 
State  in  pursuance  of  her  own  laws.  That  the  law  of 
Congress  of  the  12th  of  February,  1793,  providing,  that 
persons  escaping  from  the  service  of  their  masters  in  one 
"  State,  and  being  found  in  another  State,  shall  be  arrested 
and  delivered  to  the  claimants,  was  unconstitutional ;  and 
in  violation  of  the  reserved  rights  and  sovereignty  of  the 
States. 

That  Ohio,  nor  no  other  State,  was  bound  by  the  opera- 
tion or  force  of  any  foreign  laws  to  deliver  up  any  run- 
away slave  or  person  escaping  from  the  service  of  their 


240  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

master ;  that  the  States  were  under  a  moral,  Constitutional 
obligation  to  do  so,  but  that  they  were  themselves  judges 
when  and  how  they  would  exercise  the  power;  that  if  the 
State  should  be  of  opinion  that  the  exercise  of  the  power 
would  tend  to  the  destruction  of  its  independence  and 
sovereignty,  or  the  disturbance  of  the  public  peace,  or 
in  fact  to  the  detriment  of  the  public  welfare,  each  State 
had  the  right,  and  it  would  be  its  duty  to  refuse  such 
delivery ;  that  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  the  slave 
States  claimed  the  slaves  as  a  sheer  article  of  property ; 
that  we  did  not  permit  an  article  of  property,  say  a  horse 
or  an  ox,  to  be  taken  from  our  State,  but  in  pursuance  of 
our  own  laws,  much  less  ought  we  to  permit  a  man  to  be 
taken,  whom  we  acknowledge  in  our  Constitution  to  be 
born  free  and  independent :  That  as  a  sovereign  State, 
we  unquestionably  had  power  to  provide  by  law,  the 
mode  and  manner  of  determining  a  claim  to  any  article 
of  property,  before  such  article  could  bo  removed  from  our 
State ;  and  the  reason  was  much  stronger,  that  a  person, 
whom  we  can  only  know  as  a  free  man  until  the  contrary 
is  shown,  should  be  protected  by  our  laws,  and  that 
showing  must  be  in  pursuance  of,  and  in  comformity 
thereto : 

That  our  State  ought  to  provide  by  law  for  the  recla- 
mation and  delivery  of  runaway  slaves  I  admitted,  and  that 
we  ought  to  require  from  the  claimant  a  strict  compliance 
with  such  laws,  I  insisted.  I  remarked  that  the  principles 
I  had  advanced,  might,  by  many,  be  considered  new  and 
dangerous,  but  with  what  reflection  I  had  been  able  to 
bestow  on  this  subject,  my  mind  was  strongly  impressed 
with  their  truth  ;  however,  I  might  still  be  in  error,  and 
would  be  extremely  glad  to  meet  any  gentleman  in  public 
discussion  who  thought  me  so ;  that  truth,  and  the  safety 
and  peace  of  the  country  alone  was  my  object. 

I  am  solicitous  to  understand  the  nature  and  power  of 
slavery  in  our  country,  and  will  add,  at  this  time,  one  or 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  241 

two  suggestions  by  way  of  inquiry,  which- 1  hope  some 
gentleman  will  explain.  I  understand  the  slaveholders 
to  say  and  insist,  that  the  United  States  Government  has 
no  power  whatever  over  their  slaves  j  that  slavery  is  a 
peculiar  institution  of  their  own  States.  The  question 
then  is,  can  a  slave  commit  treason  against  the  United 
States  ?  or  can  he  be  guilty  of  counterfeiting  the  current 
coin  of  the  United  States,  or  any  other  crime  against 
the  General  Government  ?  If  so,  Congress  can  provide 
for  their  punishment,  and  thus  interfere  with  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery  in  the  States,  and  with  the  right  of  the 
master  to  his  slave.  Another  question  is,  can  Congress 
provide  by  law,  in  any  possible  case,  for  the  enlistment  of 
slaves  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  ?  It  seems  to 
me  that  if  slaves  are  subject  to  the  power  of  Congress  in 
any  one  of  the  foregoing  cases,  it  must  follow  as  a  necess- 
ary consequence,  that  Congress  have  power  over  the  whole 
slave  system  as  it  exists  in  the  United  States. 

Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  obtain  an  answer  from  some 
gentleman  in  whose  candor  and  legal  attainments  you 
have  confidence.  Yours  with  respect, 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 

The  second  paper  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Morris,  on  the 
rendition  of  fugitives,  is  lengthy  and  elaborate.  It  is  in 
answer  to  a  Keport  made  in  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in 
1837,  by  Mr.  Smith  of  Warren  county.  The  Keport  is  as 
follows : 

The  Standing  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  to  which  was  referred 
the  memorial  of  sundry  citizens  of  the  county  of  Clermont^ 
praying  (lie  Legislature  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  suly'ect 
of  regulating  in  a  more  just  and  effectual  manner,  the  proof 
and  trial  in  cases  of  fugitive  slaves,"  report  — 
The  memorialists,  who  are  a  numerous  body  of  respect- 
able citizens  of  the  county  of  Clormont,  represent  that 
21 


242  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

the  enforcement  of  the  Act  of  Congress,  passed  the  12th 
of  February,  1793,  upon  the  subject  of  persons  escaping 
from  the  service  of  their  masters,  "is  a  source  of  inde- 
scribable mental  and  physical  suffering  to  its  immediate 
victims,  and  of  painful  sympathy  and  regret  to  the  humane 
and  patriotic  citizen,  who  may  be  compelled  to  witness 
the  spectacle." 

They  complain  that  by  virtue  of  the  provisions  of  that 
law,  "  a  man  may,  by  the  warrant  of  a  single  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  be  consigned  to  interminable  slavery,  no  matter  how 
much  the  decision  may  have  been  influenced  by  interest, 
ignorance,  partiality,  or  prejudice ;"  and  they  ask  of  the 
Legislature  the  passage  of  a  law,  by  which  the  persons 
contemplated  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  law  of  Congress  above  referred  to,  shall  be  entitled 
to  the  right  of  appeal,  and  the  benefit  of  our  higher 
courts.  They  also  urge  the  "importance  of  taking  out  of 
the  hands  of  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  city  Magistrates, 
the  ability  to  execute  a  power  so  great,  and  one  so  liable 
to  be  abused  and  perverted  to  the  worst  of  purposes,  and 
the  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  our  higher  judicial  officers." 
These  views  and  opinions  are  urged  and  sustained  by 
various  arguments. 

Your  Committee  have  endeavored  to  give  that  consid- 
eration to  these  representations,  and  the  arguments  urged 
in  their  support,  which  the  importance  of  the  subject  and 
the  respectability  of  the  memorialists  seem  to  demand. 
Your  Committee  are  aware,  that  the  topics  discussed  in 
the  memorial  are  of  a  delicate  character.  Unfortunately 
for  the  cause  of  humanity,  there  has,  for  some  years  past, 
existed  in  the  public  mind  a  degree  of  sensitiveness  upon 
this  subject,  wholly  unknown  at  any  former  period  in  the 
history  of  Ohio.  This  is  neither  the  time,  nor  the  place, 
to  discuss  the  question  as  to  the  cause  of  this  excitement, 
or  who  are  responsible  for  the  consequences;  it  exists, 
and  its  power  and  intensity  are  much  to  be  regretted. 


LIFE   OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  243 

For  that  system  of  domestic  slavery,  prevalent  in  the 
Southern  States  of  the  Union,  Ohio  has  no  community  of 
feeling.  It  is  here  considered  as  a  great  evil,  both  moral 
and  political ;  one  fraught  with  more  portentous  conse- 
quences to  our  existence  as  a  nation  than  any  other.  The 
Constitution  of  our  common  country,  however,  recognizes 
the  existence  of  this  feature  in  our  social  system,  and  the 
relation  of  master  and  servant.  Ohio  became  a  constitu- 
ent member  of  the  Union,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
fact.  Slavery  was  entailed  upon  our  country  during  our 
Colonial  state ;  it  existed  at  the  formation  of  the  Consti- 
tution ;  it  is  a  stain  upon  our  National  escutcheon,  which 
the  existing  Government  did  not  create,  and  for  which 
the  present  generation  are  perhaps  not  responsible. 

The  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
was  the  result  of  compromise ;  jarring  interests  and  con- 
flicting claims  were  to  be  reconciled.  Those  States  in 
which  slavery  existed,  would  not  consent  to  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  without  a  provision  authorizing  them 
to  reclaim  their  slaves,  who  should  escape  from  the  ser- 
vice of  their  masters,  and  be  found  in  a  State  where  that 
relation  did  not  exist.  Hence,  it  was  provided  in  the 
third  clause  of  the  second  section  of  the  fourth  article  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that — "No  person 
held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws 
thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of 
any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such 
service  or  labor ;  but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of 
the  party,  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 
Whatever  may  be  our  individual  opinions  as  to  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery,  we  hold  it  to  be  our  duty  as  citizens  of 
Ohio,  as  long  as  the  Constitution  remains  unaltered,  to 
adhere  with  the  most  rigid  fidelity  to  this,  as  well  as 
every  other  provision  of  that  hallowed  Instrument.  In 
these  times  of  turmoil  and  excitement,  nothing  will  tend 
more  to  our  political  safety  than  mutual  forbearance,  and 


244  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

an  unwavering  determination  in  every  member  of  the 
Union,  to  respect  the  Constitutional  rights  of  its  fellow- 
members,  and  preserve  with  strict  fidelity,  the  principles 
of  compromise  on  which  the  Constitution  was  formed. 

Pursuant  to  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  to  which 
reference  has  been  had,  Congress,  on  the  12th  day  of 
February,  1793,  passed  an  act  entitled  — "  An  act  respect- 
ing fugitives  from  justice,  and  persons  escaping  from  their 
masters ;"  by  the  third  section  of  which  it  is  provided  — 
"That  when  a  person  held  to  labor  in  any  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  either  of  the  Territories  on  £he  North-TV esl 
or  south  of  the  river  Ohio,  under  the  laws  thereof,  shall 
escape  into  any  other  of  the  said  States  or  Territories,  the 
person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  may  be  due,  his 
agent  or  attorney,  is  hereby  empowered  to  seize  or  arrest 
such  fugitives  from  labor,  and  to  take  him  or  her  before 
any  Judge  of  the  Circuit  or  District  Courts  of  the  United 
States,  residing  or  being  within  the  State,  or  before  any 
Magistrate  of  a  county,  city  or  town  corporate,  wherein 
such  seizure  or  arrest  shall  be  made ;  and  upon  proof  to 
the  satisfaction  of  such  Judge  or  Magistrate,  either  by 
oral  testimony  or  affidavit,  taken  before  and  certified  by  a 
Magistrate  of  any  such  State  or  Territory,  that  the  person 
so  seized  or  arrested,  doth  under  the  laws  of  the  State  or 
Territory  from  which  he  or  she  fled,  owe  service  or  labor 
to  the  person  claiming  him  or  her,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
such  Judge  or  Magistrate  to  give  a  certificate  thereof  to 
such  claimant,  his  agent  or  attorney,  which  shall  be  suffi- 
cient warrant  for  removing  the  said  fugitive  from  labor, 
to  the  State  or  Territory  from  which  he  or  she  fled." 

Your  Committee  are  of  the  opinion,  that  the  power  of 
legislating  upon  this  subject  was  conferred  upon  Con 
gress,  that  the  general  provisions  of  that  act  were  made 
in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution,  and  constitute  a  part  of 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  It  is  true,  that  it  may  well 
be  doubted,  whether  Congress  under  the  Constitution, 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  245 

can  confer  any  judicial  power  on  a  State  officer;  and  should 
such  power  be  attempted  to  be  conferred,  your  Com- 
mittee are  of  opinion,  that  such  officer  might  at  his  dis- 
cretion, decline  its  exercise ;  and  that  the  State  of  which 
he  is  an  officer,  might  by  Legislative  enactment,  prohibit 
its  exercise.  As  Congress,  however,  have  deemed  it 
expedient  to  vest  in  the  judicial  officers  of  the  State, 
where  the  claim  is  preferred,  jurisdiction  in  this  matter, 
it  seems  to  your  Committee,  that  it  would  be  alike  unwise, 
uncourteous,  and  impolitic,  for  the  Legislature  to  pro- 
hibit its  exercise ;  unless  the  reason  for  a  proceeding  of 
that  kind  was  exceedingly  weighty.  It  would  produce 
relations  apparently  unfriendly  between  the  General  and 
State  Governments ;  a  state  of  things  always  to  be  depre- 
cated. The  consequences  would  be,  the  vesting  of  the 
jurisdiction  in  matters  of  this  kind,  exclusively  in  the 
officers  of  the  General  Government.  This,  your  Commit- 
tee believe,  would  be  productive  of  great  difficulty  and 
inconvenience,  not  only  to  the  claimant,  but  also  to  the 
person  sought  to  be  reclaimed.  The  remote  distance  at 
which  these  officers  must  reside  from  various  sections  of 
the  State,  would  render  it  much  easier  for  evil-disposed 
persons  to  kidnap  the  negro  or  mulatto,  and  take  him 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  State,  without  any  judicial 
investigation,  than  under  our  existing  regulations  :  and  it 
is  not  difficult  to  perceive,  that  in  a  majority  of  cases,  it 
would  be  utterly  impossible  for  the  alleged  fugitive  to 
procure  the  attendance  of  witnesses  to  prove  his  freedom, 
at  such  a  distance  from  his  residence. 

In  reference  to  that  part  of  the  memorial,  which  prays 
for  the  allowance  of  an  appeal  from  the  inferior  magis- 
trates to  the  higher  courts  in  these  cases,  your  Committee 
would  remark,  that  they  are  aware  of  the  value  of  the 
right  of  appeal ;  and  were  they  satisfied  of  the  existence 
of  the  power  in  the  Legislature  to  authorize  a  review  of 
the  proceedings  before  the  inferior  tribunal  under  proper 


246  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

. 

restrictions,  it  might  be  difficult  to  prove  its  inexpediency. 
But  they  believe  that  under  the  law  of  Congress,  exclu- 
sive cognizance  of  the  matter  is  given  to  the  officers 
therein  enumerated,  and  that  no  appeal  is  contemplated, 
or  appellate  jurisdiction  conferred.  An  attempt  of  a  State 
Legislature  to  confer  this  power,  they  would  deem 
improper,  and  therefore  unwise  and  inexpedient. 

The  second  object  of  the  memorialists,  that  is,  taking 
out  of  the  hands  of  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  city  magis- 
trates, the  ability  to  exercise  this  power,  has  already  been 
virtually  anticipated.  Your  Committee  are  not  aware  of 
any  flagrant  abuse  of  the  powers  conferred  by  the  act  of 
Congress  upon  Justices  and  City  Magistrates,  and  it 
would  be.  a  source  of  extreme  regret,  if  they  were  forced 
to  the  conclusion,  that  any  of  their  decisions  had  been 
influenced  by  "  interest,  ignorance,  partiality,  or  predju- 
dice."  They  hope,  for  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  judicial 
officers  of  State,  there  is  no  foundation  for  such  imputa- 
tion. Unless,  then,  the  reasons  for  an  alteration  in  our 
laws,  conformably  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists,  are 
urgent  and  imperious,  your  Committee  would  deem  it 
inexpedient  at  this  time,  when  excitement  is  already  ripe, 
when  the  feelings  of  the  slaveholding,  and  anti-slave- 
holding  States  are  arrayed  against  each  other,  any 
further  to  fan  the  flame,  or  contribute  to  the  existing 
excitement.  Let  it  be  our  task  to  pour  oil  upon  the 
troubled  waters,  and  restore  that  comity  and  kind  feeling 
which  should  characterize  the  intercourse  between  sister 
States.  If  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  Presidents 
of  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  were  the  only  judicial 
officers  of  the  State,  authorized  to  adjudicate  upon  these 
cases,  many  of  the  inconveniencies  and  hardships  before 
alluded  to,  would  exist :  and  whatever  may  be  the  merits, 
respectability  and  integrity  of  Associate  Judges  in 
general,  they  are  not  usually  technical  lawyers.  In  rela- 
tion to  city  magistrates,  your  Committee  would  remark, 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  247 

that  they  consider  their  jurisdiction  in  these  cases,  to  have 
been  virtually  vested  by  the  second  section  of  the  "  Act 
to  prevent  kidnapping,"  which  provides  "  That  no  person 
or  persons  shall  in  any  manner  attempt  to  carry  out  of 
this  State,  or  knowingly  be  aiding  in  carrying  out  of  this 
State,  any  black  or  mulatto  person,  without  first  taking 
such  black  or  mulatto  person,  before  some  Judge  or  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  in  the  county  where  such  black  or  mulatto 
person  was  taken,  and  there  agreeably  to  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  establish  by  proof  his  or  their  property,  in 
such  black  or  mulatto  person."  Your  Committee  are 
desirous  that  not  only  every  citizen  of  the  State,  but  that 
every  black  and  mulatto  person,  may  be  protected  in 
those  rights  which  are  guaranteed  by  law ;  but  under  our 
existing  laws,  administered  by  honest  and  intelligent 
officers,  and  with  the  habitual  reverence  of  our  commu- 
nity for  order  and  law,  with  the  benefit  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  ;  we  think  there  is  a  safe  guarantee  that  the 
rights  of  the  humblest  individual,  will  be  protected. 
Under  these  considerations,  your  Committee  believe  it 
would  at  this  time  be  inexpedient  to  legislate  on  this 
subject,  and  ask  to  be  discharged  from  the  further 
consideration  thereof. 

Mr.  Morris,  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  in  March, 
1837,  answered  Mr.  Smith,  as  follows : 

SIR:  In  addressing  this  paper  to  you,  I  am  in  hopes 
that  your  standing  and  character  in  society,  will  attract  to 
it  public  attention,  and  cause  it  to  be  more  generally  read 
and  considered  than  it  otherwise  would  be,  and  I  confess 
I  am  not  without  hopes  to  induce  you  to  enter  into  a  con- 
troversy, on  the  important  subject  contained  in  your 
Eeport,  and  the  Petition  presented  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly, from  a  number  of  citizens  of  this  county,  praying  the 
passage  of  an  act  for  regulating  in  a  more  just  and  effect- 


248  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

ual  manner,  the  proof  and  trial  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  of 
which  Report  this  paper  is  designed  as  a  review. 

Permit  me  to  assure  you,  that  for  your  personal  and 
political  character,  I  entertain  the  highest  respect ;  and  the 
important  stations  you  have  filled,  both  as  a  legislator  and 
a  judge,  entitle  your  opinion  to  the  greatest  consideration, 
and  when  officially  given  become  public  property ;  and  if 
erroneous,  and  founded  on  false  premises,  are,  and  ought 
to  be  subjected  to  the  severest  animadversion.  In  this 
light  do  I  view  your  Eeport ;  and  for  which  the  public  has 
the  right  to  hold  you  responsible,  and  to  award  to  you 
either  their  approval  or  censure,  as  shall  seem  meet. 

The  first  great  error  into  which  you  have  fallen,  is  the 
presumption  that  a  person  of  color,  found  in  Ohio,  may 
be  the  slave  of  another  man  ;  and  this  error  is  the  predi- 
cate of  your  whole  Report.  The  presumption,  however, 
is  directly  the  reverse ;  it  is,  that  every  human  being  found 
in  the  State  is  free ;  that  color  is  not  like  the  form,  and 
want  of  intelligence  in  other  animals,  evidence  of  property 
in  man  ;  that  he  who  claims  that  a  person  in  our  State  is 
subject  to  any  disability,  or  owes  labor  or  service  to 
another,  or  is  property,  must  prove  the  same  by  some 
existing  law,  as  well  as  make  proof  of  the  fact  of  owner- 
ship ;  while  a  brute  animal  may  be  reclaimed  by  proving 
the  latter  fact  only.  But  even  if  such  animal  should 
escape  from  the  service  of  its  master,  in  any  other  State, 
and  be  found  in  our  own  State,  it  could  only  be  reclaimed 
in  pursuance  of  our  own  laws.  Yet,  strange  is  the  conclu- 
sion to  which  you  arrive,  that  a  person  who  owes  service 
or  labor,  in  another  State,  and  who  may  be  found  in  this 
State,  may  be  reclaimed  by  the  operations  of  a  foreign  law 
only ;  that,  in  fact,  our  own  Legislature  have  not  the 
power  to  defend  a  free  person  (and  all  are  free  here  until 
the  contrary  is  proven),  from  being  arrested  and  carried 
out  of  the  State,  or  presenting  the  nature  of  the  proof  to 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  249 

be  made,  and  the  Courts  before  winch  the  trial  should  be 
had,  as  well  as  the  mode  and  manner  of  such  trial — thus 
degrading  the  person  below  the  brute,  and  subjecting  him 
to  be  adjudged  the  property  of  another,  in  a  sister  State, 
by  rules  which  I  am  conscious  you  would  have  spurned 
with  indignation,  as  a  judge,  if  any  such  attempt  had  been 
made  upon  you  while  on  the  bench,  to  determine  the 
right  of  property  in  a  horse  or  an  ox. 

We  have  no  measure  to  test  proceedings  of  such  a  mon- 
strous character,  but  the  standard  which  the  Creator  has 
implanted  in  the  breast  of  every  man.  And  ought  not  we, 
who  have  not  only  this  monitor,  but  all  the  light  which 
Christianity  and  Philosophy  can  afford,  feel  humbled  at 
the  very  mention  of  doctrines,  such  as  are  contained  in 
your  Report ;  and  if  we  acknowledge  their  correctness  by 
practice,  to  put  our  hands  upon  our  mouths,  and  our  mouths 
in  the  dust,  and  plead  guilty  before  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth.  "  Shall  I  not  visit  for  these  things,  saith  the  Lord, 
and  shall  not  my  soul  be  avenged  on  such  a  nation  as 
this." 

You  state  that  the  committee  were  aware  that  the  topics 
discussed  in  the  memorial  are  of  a  delicate  character,  and 
"  unfortunately  for  the  cause  of  humanity,  there  has,  for 
some  years  existed  in  the  public  mind,  a  degree  of  sensi- 
tiveness on  this  subject,  wholly  unknown  at  any  former 
period  in  the  history  of  Ohio."  I  confess  I  almost  doubted 
the  evidence  of  my  own  senses  on  first  reading  this  para- 
graph. "What  are  the  topics  discussed  ?  Personal  Rights ! 
the  right  of  every  human  being  as  secured  to  him  by  the 
Constitution  of  Ohio  ;  the  mode  and  manner  of  trial  when 
a  claim  is  laid  to  a  man  as  property  ;  when  found  within 
our  own  jurisdiction ;  a  question  which  involves  the 
supremacy  of  our  own  Constitution  as  well  as  the  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  !  Yet  because  the  citizens  are  begin- 
ning to  awake  and  inquire  into  these  matters  which  are 
of  the  highest  importance,  you  deem  it  unfortunate. 


250  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MOKRIS. 

Yes,  unfortunate  to  the  cause  of  humanity !  Was  there 
ever  a  sentiment  so  unjust  and  so  unfortunately  expressed. 
Humanity  requires  that  we  do  good  as  well  as  be  just 
unto  all  men  !  Policy  requires  that  we  should  not  permit 
the  foot  of  the  spoiler  to  tread  down  either  our  own 
Constitution  or  the  liberty  of  man,  without  showing  a 
paramount  authority  to  do  so,  and  that  too  in  such  a 
way  and  manner  as  we  may  prescribe.  In  contradiction 
to  your  opinion,  which  rests  on  assertion  only,  permit  me 
also  to  declare,  that  it  is  most  fortunate  for  the  cause  of 
humanity,  for  justice,  for  the  preservation  of  our  own 
institutions,  for  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  country, 
that  this  degree  of  sensitiveness  of  which  you  complain, 
exists,  and  is  prevailing  throughout  the  land. 

It  was  prudent  in  sustaining  your  Report,  that  you 
should  avoid  discussion  as  to  the  cause  of  the  excitement 
you  mention,  as  a  discussion  would  have  shown  the 
fallacy  of  your  Report,  and  in  some  degree  the  deep 
foundation  upon  which  the  prayer  of  the  memorial  rested. 
It  would  have  shown  that  the  civilized  as  well  as  the 
Christian  world  was  against  you  ;  it  would  have  proven 
to  you  that  the  deep  recesses  of  the  human  heart,  had 
been  moved  in  the  cause  of  suffering  humanity  ;  that  the 
spirit  of  light  and  truth  is  abroad  in  the  land,  and  that 
the  dark  and  hideous  form  of  slavery  was  receding  from 
before  it ;  inflicting  its  additional  tortures  on  its  unfor- 
tunate victims  as  its  power  gradually  declined,  and  thus 
glutting  its  appetite  for  cruelty  and  oppression  even  in 
its  death  struggles.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  rejoicing, 
not  of  regret,  that  it  is  even  now  made  to  feel  the  power 
and  intensity  of  public  opinion. 

You  next  say, "  For  that  system  of  domestic  slavery, 
prevalent  in  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union,  Ohio  has 
no  community  of  feeling.  It  is  here  considered  as  a  great 
evil  both  moral  and  political,  and  fraught  with  more  por- 
tentous consequences  to  our  nation  than  any  other."  Is 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  251 

this  true  ?  It  is.  And  can  we  for  a  moment  believe  that 
this  great  truth,  which  is  written  on  the  tablet  of  every 
heart  will  lie  dormant  in  those  of  the  wise  and  the  good  ? 
Surely  not.  And  yet  you  who  thus  solemnly  declare  in 
your  Report,  the  existence  in  our  common  country,  of 
this  great  and  alarming  evil,  should  deem  it  unfortunate 
for  the  cause  of  humanity,  that  there  exists  in  the  public 
mind  an  intensity  of  feeling  giving  power  and  energy  to 
its  action,  is  one  of  those  incongruities  into  which  we  are 
all  too  apt  to  fall.  What  do  you  propose  as  the  reward 
for  supineness?  Nothing  more  than  that  happiness, 
which  is  the  result  of  stupefying  medicines  given  to 
assuage  the  pangs  of  approaching  death.  You  promise  us 
nothing  better,  and  seem  even  startled  in  promising  us  this. 

Like  an  Empyric  in  physic,  who  had  given  over  all 
hopes  of  the  recovery  of  his  patient,  you  endeavor  to  find 
some  cause  for  the  fatal  disease  which  is  beyond  the  power 
of  medicines  to  reach  ;  you  consign  us  to  destruction  and 
then  sit  down,  fold  your  arms  under  another  most  fatal 
error,  that  the  Constitution  of  our  country  recognizes  the 
existence  of  this  feature  in  our  social  system,  and  the 
relation  of  master  and  servant. 

On  this  point  however,  I  am  at  issue  with  you  as  to 
the  fact.  I  deny  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  recognizes  or  guarantees  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  any  of  its  provisions.  You  have  not  pretended  to  point 
to  such  a  provision,  except  that  which  I  sluUl  presently 
notice,  and  which  does  not  sustain  you,  and  of  course,  I 
conclude  that  none  other  exist,  on  which  you  can  rely 
with  the  remotest  possibility  of  success.  The  very  idea 
of  recognizing  what  shall  be  property,  or  the  tenure  by 
which  property  can  be  holden,  is  at  war  with  the  very 
nature  and  object  of  the  Constitution.  That  instrument 
is  the  foundation  of  all  our  political  as  well  as  personal 
rights.  The  Government  is  made  by  the  Constitution,  to 
rest  on  man,  abstract  and  unconnected  with  property; 


252  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

securing  to  him  those  valuable  and  inalienable  rights, 
such  as  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  with 
which  he  is  endowed  by  his  Creator ;  while  it  has  left 
property  as  a  minor  thing,  to  be  formed  and  provided  for 
by  law  emanating  from  the  Constitution. 

I  ask  you,  sir,  as  a  Lawyer  and  a  Judge,  what  would  be 
the  condition  of  our  own  State,  if  the  position  you  have 
taken  be  true,  that  the  Constitution  of  our  common 
country  recognizes  slavery,  as  a  feature  in  our  social 
system  ?  Will  you  not  admit,  at  once,  that  slavery  can 
exist  in  Ohio  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  conclusion,  from 
your  argument,  is  irresistible  that  such  would  be  the  case. 
For  if  slavery  has  its  existence  in  our  social  system,  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  then  indeed,  does  it  exist 
everywhere  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States, 
because  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  each  State  are  sub- 
ject to  the  controlling  power  of  that  instrument.  I  can  not 
believe  that  it  is  your  wish  or  desire  to  convert  Ohio  into 
a  slave  State ;  yet  if  the  doctrines  contained  in  your 
Eeport  be  orthodox,  I  ask  you  to  escape  from  the  dilemma 
if  you  can. 

Your  next  attempt  is  an  excuse  for  the  present  existence 
of  slavery,  a  kind  of  miserable  consolation  for  the  wicked- 
ness of  its  practice,  and  is  at  war  with  your  Constitutional 
recognition  of  its  rights.  You  say  "It  was  entailed 
upon  our  country  during  our  Colonial  State,  it  existed  at 
the  foundation  of  the  Constitution,  it  is  a  stain  upon  our 
National  escutcheon  which  the  existing  Government  did 
not  create,  and  for  which  the  present  generation  are,  per- 
haps, not  responsible.  The  word  perhaps,  as  used  by  you, 
is  a  word  of  fearful  import.  You  deplore  slavery  as  a  great 
evil,  both  moral  and  political,  a  stain  upon  the  national 
escutcheon  which  the  existing  Government  did  not  create, 
and  which  you  say  is  fully  recognized  by  it,  and  then  find 
consolation  in  the  idea,  that  perhaps  we  are  not  responsible 
for  this  great  wickedness. 


LITE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  253 

If  slavery  was  wrong  in  our  Colonial  State,  the  change 
in  our  political  condition,  you  will  not,  I  am  sure,  contend 
makes  it  right.  The  wickedness  of  holding  slaves,  one 
hundred  years  ago,  does  not  prove  that  it  is  right  to  hold 
slaves  now;  because  our  Fathers  held  in  slavery,  the 
fathers  of  the  present  race  of  slaves,  it  does  not  prove  the 
practice  less  criminal  or  dangerous  for  that  cause.  Our 
fathers  have  gone  to  their  account,  and  the  present  gener- 
ation must  shortly  follow,  and  are  equally  responsible, 
both  here  and  hereafter,  for  the  existence  of  slavery  ;  for 
slavery  is  constantly  and  continually  an  evil,  an  evil  in 
all  time,  under  all  circumstances,  and  in  all  countries ;  an 
evil  without  excuse,  and  without  mitigation  —  the  worst 
of  all  possible  evils.  Yet  you  would  have  us  shut  our 
eyes  on  this  deplorable  wickedness,  because  we  were  not 
the  first  in  the  guilt,  and  content  ourselves  with  saying, 
perhaps  the  present  generation  is  not  responsible. 

That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  the  result 
of  Compromise  between  the  different  States,  is  admitted. 
But  I  contend  that  that  instrument  contains  in  direct 
terms  all  the  compromises  intended,  and  that  none  others 
are  to  be  inferred.  Those  agreed  to,  consist  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Legislative  department,  in  the  mode  and 
manner  of  collecting  revenue,  in  the  grants  of  power  to 
the  Executive  and  Judicial  departments;  indeed  the 
whole  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a  compromise 
between  the  different  States,  but  it  is  a  compromise  in 
transferring  power,  which  then  belonged  to  the  States, 
and  is  to  be  taken  and  construed,  strictly  within  the 
letter  of  the  grants  made.  The  power  thus  granted  by 
the  effect  of  the  compromise,  I  contend,  can  no  longer  be 
exercised  by  the  States.  But  I  deny  that  the  compro- 
mises, in  any  manner  affected,  or  operated  on,  any  of  the 
rights  or  powers  not  granted,  but  the  same  remains  with 
the  States,  to  be  exercised  in  the  same  manner,  as  if  no 
such  compromises  had  been  made. 


254  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

As  to  the  existence  of  slavery  there  is  no  recognition  of 
it  in  the  Constitution.  !N"or  could  there  be  any  compro- 
mises between  the  States  on  that  subject,  because  at  the 
formation  of  the  Constitution,  in  each  and  all  the  States, 
slavery  existed.  In  your  Report,  however,  you  have 
said,  that  those  States  in  which  slavery  existed,  would  not 
consent  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  without  a 
provision  authorizing  them  to  reclaim  their  slaves  who 
should  escape  from  the  services  of  their  masters,  and  be 
found  in  a  State  where  that  relation  did  not  exist.  You 
mean  no  doubt  States  of  our  Union,  and  if  so  having 
mistaken  facts,  your  reasoning  is  inconclusive. 

There  were  no  States,  as  before  said,  in  which  Slavery 
did  not  exist  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, and  that  instrument,  instead  of  guaranteeing  the 
continuance  of  slavery  in  the  different  States,  in  its  whole 
scope  and  tendency,  has  evidently  formed  the  design  of 
terminating  its  existence  at  no  very  remote  period.  The 
word  slave  or  slavery  was  of  too  base  an  import  to  be 
used  in  that  instrument;  and  in  order  to  brand  with 
odium,  and  fix  the  seal  of  disapprobation  on  the  practice 
of  slavery,  it  was  agreed  as  one  of  the  compromises  of 
the  Constitution,  that  the  migration  or  importation,  the 
going  out,  or  the  bringing  into  any  of  the  States  then 
existing,  such  persons  as  they  might  think  proper  to 
admit,  should  not  be  prohibited  by  Congress,  prior  to  the 
year  1808 ;  but  on  such  importation  Congress  might 
impose  a  tax  or  duty,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars  on  each 
person.  It  is  admitted  that  the  word  person,  used  in  this 
section  of  the  Constitution,  evidently  means  persons  of 
whom  slaves  have  been  made  by  the  different  States. 
This  provision  was  clearly  intended  to  vest  in  Congress 
a  power  to  prevent  the  traffic  in  slaves,  either  foreign  or 
domestic,  and  to  exhibit  it  to  the  public  eye  as  odious,  by 
the  imposition  of  an  extraordinary  tax. 

The  restriction  upon  the  power  of  Congress  ovor  the 


LIFE     OPX   SENATOR     MORRIS.  255 

subject  of  slavery  in  this  section  of  the  Constitution, 
is  the  acknowledgement  that  the  power  was  ample  in  all 
possible  cases  of  a  like  nature,  when  not  so  restricted. 
And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  power  thus  restricted, 
was  expressly  confined  to  the  States  then  existing,  leaving 
Congress  at  full  liberty  to  prohibit  the  extension  of 
slavery  in  all  new  States  that  might  thereafter  be  admit- 
ted into  the  Union.  Yet  in  the  face  of  all  these  provis- 
ions, is  it  not  strange  that  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  one  who  has 
held  a  high  Judicial  station,  and  who  is  now  a  member 
of  her  Senate,  should  be  willing  to  join  the  mercenary 
slaveholder,  who,  finding  his  claims  at  war  with  every 
principle  of  justice  and  humanity,  is  willing  to  engraft 
its  odium  into  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  It  is, 
however,  to  be  hoped  that  a  Constitution  whose  founda- 
tion is  laid  upon  broad  principles  will  never  give  nour- 
ishment to  so  deadly  a  shoot,  no  matter  with  what  skill 
it  may  be  inserted. 

But  if  you  have  been  unfortunate  in  your  premises, 
you  are  still  more  unfortunate  in  your  proof,  and  conclu- 
sions. You  attempt  to  sustain  slavery  by  the  third  clause, 
second  Section,  fourth  Article  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  is  in  the  following  words :  "  No  person 
held  to  service  or  labor,  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another  State,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any 
law  or  regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service 
or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered  up  upon  the  claim  of  the 
party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due." 

The  argument  you  have  drawn  from  this  provision  of 
the  Constitution  is,  that  Congress  having  legislated  on  the 
subject,  the  legislative  power  of  the  States  on  the  same 
subject,  is  superseded,  and  that  we  are  bound  to  recognize 
the  existence  of  slavery,  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  to  know  the  slave,  not  by  proof, 
but  by  his  natural  appearance.  We  are  to  take  the  doc- 
trine of  the  slaveholding  States  as  our  guide,  that  color  is, 


256  Lin     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

in  presumption  of  law,  evidence  of  slavery,  and  that  tho 
claim  arising  therefrom  must  be  resisted  by  proof;  and 
hence,  in  violation  of  our  own  State  Constitution,  which 
declares  that  "  All  men  are  born  equally  free  and  independ- 
ent, and  have  certain  natural  and  inherent  rights,  among 
which  are  the  enjoying  and  defending  life  and  liberty." 
You  are  willing  to  acknowledge  the  non-existence  of  those 
rights  as  it  respects  persons  of  color,  and  permit  them  to  be 
seized  and  arrested  without  an  oath,  without  warrant,  and 
taken  and  carried  before  any  magistrate  of  a  county,  city, 
or  town  corporate,  wherein  such  seizure  or  arrest  shall  be 
made.  And  what  is  the  proof  then  to  be  made  ?  That 
such  person  is  a  slave  ?  No.  By  your  theory  that  is  a 
fact  admitted ;  but  to  exempt  himself  from  its  effects  the 
person  arrested  will  be  required  to  prove  his  freedom. 
The  only  proof,  as  you  contend,  as  required  by  the  act  of 
Congress,  is,  that  the  person  arrested  owes  service  or  labor 
to  the  person  claiming  him,  or  her,  and  on  this  proof  he 
is  surrendered  into  slavery.  And  you  call  this  Justice. 

I  would  here  ask  you  to  pause  and  reflect  on  the  conse- 
quences of  the  doctrines  you  promulgate.  I  am  sure  you 
will  not  openly  deny,  that  a  colored  man  may  not,  under 
our  political  system,  enjoy  personal  liberty,  at  least,  in  the 
same  degree  as  a  white  person  ;  and  that  liberty  is  as 
solemnly  secured  to  one  person  as  another  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  our  State.  Do  you  not  know  colored  persons  in 
your  own  town,  whom  you  are  conscious  are  free,  honest, 
and  industrious  citizens,  subject  to  no  disability  but  what 
the  laws  of  our  State  have  created  ?  Could  you,  as  an 
honest  and  upright  man,  feel  perfectly  satisfied  with  the 
justice  of  your  country,  to  see  such  persons  arrested  by 
a  citizen  of  another  State,  without  oath  or  warrant,  and 
carried  before  one  of  your  own  upright  magistrates,  and 
in  a  few  hours  be  consigned  by  him  to  perpetual  and 
unmitigated  slavery,  upon  proof  made  by  a  single  person 
even,  unknown  to  you  or  the  community  in  which  you 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  257 

| 

live,  and  whether  true  or  false,  no  opportunity  of  inqui- 
ring ;  but  the  magistrate,  as  you  contend,  would  be  bound 
to  deliver  over  the  person  claimed,  on  his  own  judgment 
of  the  proof  so  made  by  a  stranger,  probably  a  slave  - 
catcher,  or  more  likely  a  kidnapper,  without  affording  the 
least  opportunity  to  the  person  claimed  to  show  that  the 
claim  was  false,  and  the  testimony  untrue.  I  repeat  the 
question  :  Would  you-feel  satisfied  to  see  a  citizen  of  Leba- 
non, though  a  colored  one,  carried  off  in  this  manner?  I 
answer  for  you.  I  am  sure  you  would  not.  Your  sense 
of  justice  and  right  is  too  strong  for  that. 

I  again  differ  from  your  conclusions,  as  to  the  legislation 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
on  which  you  rely.  It  is  evident  that  many  of  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  can  only 
be  carried  into  effect  by  State  legislation.  Indeed,  some 
of  the  most  important  ones  are  of  this  character ;  and  to 
my  mind  it  is  clear,  that  the  provision  contained  in  the 
third  clause  of  the  second  section,  fourth  article,  to  which 
you  refer,  is  of  that  description.  Have  you  observed  the 
peculiar  phraseology  of  this  paragraph,  and  with  what 
care  it  avoids  the  recognition  of  slavery  as  a  Constitu- 
tional provision.  Its  power  can  not  begin  to  operate  until 
a  person  shall  escape  from  one  State  into  another ;  he 
must  be  held  to  service  or  labor  in  the  State  only  from 
which  he  escapes ;  and,  of  course,  in  the  State  in  which  he 
is  found,  he  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  entitled  to  per- 
sonal freedom  ;  but  such  State  is  prohibited  from  discharg- 
ing him  from  any  prior  obligation  or  duty  he  may  be 
under  in  the  State  from  which  he  has  escaped ;  but  he 
shall  be  delivered  up,  on  the  claim  of  the  party  to  whom 
such  services  or  labor  is  due.  Every  State  in  the  Union 
has  reserved  the  power  of  protecting  from  violation,  or 
insult,  the  person  of  any  individual  found  within  its 
jurisdiction. 

It  would  be  an  anomaly  indeed,  if  the  States  had  given 


258  LIFE    OP   SENATOR     MORRIS. 

up  this  right,  this  power  to  preserve  the  public  peace 
within  their  borders ;  no  State  can  do  it  and  claim  even 
the  shadow  of  independence.  This  is  a  palpable  truth. 
How  then  does  it  happen,  that  a  colored  person  may  be 
seized  and  arrested  within  our  State,  without  the  authority 
of  any  State  law  defining  the  course,  or  prescribing  the 
mode  of  arrest,  or  the  form  or  manner  of  trial  ?  Are  you 
willing  to  substitute  color,  as  a  ground  for  the  arrest,  in 
lieu  of  the  oath  required  by  the  State  Constitution,  and 
adopt  the  act  of  Congress  as  the  only  mode  of  trial  by 
which  persons,  however  disqualified  by  the  laws  of  the 
State,  would  be  competent  witnesses  under  that  act. 

Fancy  yourself  again  upon  the  Bench,  and  a  colored 
man  brought  before  you  on  a  claim  to  his  services  or  labor 
by  another.  "What  would  you  think  of  the  knowledge  or 
even  the  integrity  of  the  Attorney  who  would  contend 
that  color  was  prima  facie  evidence  of  slavery,  and  that 
the  right  to  the  services  of  the  slave  by  the  claimant, 
should  be  proven  by  such  persons  as  he  saw  proper  to 
introduce,  without  any  regard  to  the  laws  of  your  own 
State,  using  the  language  of  your  Report,  "  that  the  power 
of  legislating  upon  this  subject  was  conferred  upon  Con- 
gress," and  under  that  legislation  alone  you  must  decide? 
I  know  you  too  well  to  believe  that  for  a  moment,  you 
would  entertain  such  a  plea.  You  would  at  once  decide, 
that  no  person  who  was  disqualified  by  the  laws  of  Ohio 
from  being  a  witness  should  testify  in  such  a  case.  "With- 
out going  further  into  illustrations,  I  contend  that  if  the 
legislation  of  the  State  could  control  your  action  in  one 
particular,  it  could  regulate  it  entirely.  To  me  it  appears 
that  the  law  of  Congress  on  which  you  rely,  is  an 
infringement  of  State  sovereignty,  and  of  course,  uncon- 
stitutional. 

Let  me  not  be  told,  that  the  long  acquiescence  of  the 
States,  under  the  provisions  of  that  act,  proves  the  error 
of  my  opinions.  It  has  been  endured  because  iti  opera- 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  259 

tion  has  been  confined  to  the  colored  race,  that  abused 
and  down-trodden  population,  against  whom  such  strong 
prejudices  exist.  But,  Sir,  its  provisions  applied  in  a 
single  instance,  to  a  free  white  person  who  might  justly 
owe  service  or  labor  in  another  State,  the  whole  country, 
at  once,  I  have  no  doubt,  would  take  alarm  and  be  thrown 
into  a  flame  of  commotion. 

But  why  do  I  urge  upon  you  the  unconstitutionally  of 
this  act  of  Congress  ?  You  admit  it,  in  your  Report. 
You  say — "  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  Congress, 
under  the  Constitution,  can  confer  any  judicial  power 
upon  a  State  officer;  and  should  such  power  be  attempted 
to  be  conferred,  you  are  of  opinion  that  such  officer  might, 
at  his  discretion,  decline  its  exercise ;  and  that  the  State 
of  Ohio,  of  which  he  is  an  officer,  might  by  legislative 
enactment,  prohibit  its  exercise."  If  Congress  had  the 
power  Constitutionally  to  pass  the  act  of  the  12th  of 
February,  1793,  on  which  your  Report  is  based,  then  this 
latter  opinion  of  yours,  carried  into  effect,  would  be  com- 
plete nullification.  If  you  are  correct,  that  a  State,  by 
legislative  enactment,  might  prohibit  the  exercise  of  a 
power  conferred  by  Congress ;  but  if,  as  the  latter  part  of 
your  opinion  is,  that  Congress  has  not  the  Constitutional 
right  to  confer  power  on  a  State  officer,  then  every  act  of 
such  officer  by  virtue  of  a  law  of  Congress,  is  oppressive, 
tyrannical  and  unjust,  because  it  is  the  exercise  of  a 
power  without  right.  Yet  to  this  condition  you  seem 
willing  to  subject  a  person  in  Ohio,  who  has  the  right  to 
claim  protection  from  her  laws,  and  that  too,  in  order  to 
sustain  and  perpetuate  slavery  in  other  States  of  the 
Union. 

As  I  progress  with  your  Report,  I  find  less  to  approve 
and  more  to  condemn.  After  having  failed  in  proving, 
or  entirely  given  up  the  right  of  Congress  to  require  of  a 
State  officer  the  performance  of  an  official  duty  by  virtue 


260  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

of  the  act  of  1793,  you  say — "As  Congress,  however,  have 
deemed  it  expedient  to  vest  in  the  judicial  officers  of  the 
State  where  the  claim  is  preferred,  jurisdiction  in  this 
matter,  it  seems  that  it  would  be  alike  unwise,  uncourte- 
ous,  and  impolitic,  for  the  Legislature  to  prohibit  its 
exercise ;  unless  the  reason  for  a  proceeding  of  this  kind 
was  exceedingly  weighty."  Thus,  resolve  resistance  to 
usurpation  into  a  system  of  uncourteous  policy,  and  you 
eeem  willing  that  the  rights  of  your  fellow  citizens  should 
be  weighed,  not  in  the  balances  of  justice,  but  in  the  scale 
of  interest.  This  is  derogatory  to  the  spirit  of  liberty  as 
well  as  to  the  spirit  of  independence.  This  was  not  the 
spirit  of  our  fathers,  who  resisted  oppression,  not  on  the 
ground  of  the  loss  of  money  it  extorted,  but  solely  for  the 
principle  involved  in  the  issue.  And  whenever  our  Gov- 
ernment is  resolved  into  a  system  of  convenience,  to  suit 
particular  cases,  there  will  be  an  end  to  all  our  civil 
liberty,  which  consists  only  in  a  government  of  laws 
emanating  from  the  people  themselves,  and  faithfully  and 
impartially  administered,  and  by  which  all  are  equally 
benefited  and  equally  bound. 

Your  next  position  is,  that  under  the  Act  of  Congress, 
exclusive  cognizance  is  given  of  the  matter  to  the  officers 
enumerated  in  said  Act,  and  that  no  appeal  is  contem- 
plated or  appellate  jurisdiction  conferred ;  and  any 
attempt  of  a  State  to  confer  this  power  you  deem  unwise 
and  inexpedient.  Let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  matter 
is  the  personal  liberty  of  a  human  being,  who  has  violated 
no  law  of  the  State,  nor  done  any  act  by  which  that 
liberty  has  been  forfeited.  You  can  not  deny  but  the 
Constitution  of  the  State  guarantees  to  him  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  that  liberty,  until  it  shall  appear  he  is  not 
entitled  thereto.  This  is  not  to  depend  on  a  matter  of 
opinion,  but  on  matter  of  law;  and  I  can  not, -with  you, 
consent  that  an  Act  of  Congress  shall  be  exclusively 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  261 

permitted  to  seize  upon  the  person  of  an  individual,  and  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution  and  law  of  Ohio,  transport 
him  without  the  State. 

You  will  not,  I  presume  deny,  that  the  very  arrest  of 
the  person  of  a  fugitive  in  Ohio  deemed  a  slave,  by  the 
laws  of  a  sister  State,  is  a  personal  injury ; — for  you  have 
admitted,  that  slavery  as  it  prevails  in  the  Southern  States, 
is  a  great  moral  and  political  evil ;  if  so,  its  infliction  in 
any  clime,  or  in  any  country,  is  an  injury  to  the  person 
upon  whom  it  is  inflicted.  Thus,  while  you  admit  exclu- 
sive cognizance  to  be  given  to  this  matter  by  the  law  of 
Congress,  you  trample  under  foot,  nullify  and  abnegate, 
the  Constitution  of  your  own  State,  which  expressly 
declares  in  the  seventh  Section,  eighth  Article  "  That  all 
Courts  shall  be  open,  and  every  person,  for  an  injury  done 
him,  in  his  lands,  goods,  person  or  reputation,  shall  have 
remedy  by  due  course  of  law,  and  justice  administered 
without  denial  or  delay." 

You  nor  no  other  person,  I  presume,  will  contend  that 
the  Courts  here  mentioned  are  any  other  than  the  Courts 
of  the  States ;  nor  will  you  contend  that  the  Judges  of 
our  Courts,  should  they  attempt  to  set  in  judgment,  by 
the  authority  of  any  law,  but  the  law  of  the  State,  would, 
for  a  moment  be  considered  as  falling  within  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  aforesaid  section,  nor  can  the  law  mentioned 
mean  any  other  than  the  law  of  the  States.  I  ask  you 
then,  what  becomes  of  the  Constitution  of  your  own  State, 
if  your  exclusive  cognizance  is  a  correct  principle.  It  is 
thrown  aside  as  a  dead  letter,  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of 
Southern  slavery,  or  bartered  for  political  ease  and  private 
gain.  Establish  the  doctrine  contained  in  your  report,  and 
the  debasement  of  your  State  is  complete,  and  her  pride 
of  independence  humbled.  Even  the  slave  himself  need 
not  envy  us;  his  condition  is  involuntary,  while  his 
mind  may  remain  free  and  noble,  ours  would  be  voluntary 
and  a  debasement  of  the  mind  itself. 


262  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

As  to  the  proceedings  of  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  city 
Magistrates  in  this  matter,  and  the  ability  with  which 
they  exercise  the  power  conferred  by  the  Act  of  Congress, 
I  am  willing  your  opinion  should  go  to  the  world  for  what 
it  is  worth.  Every  man  in  that  case  will  judge  upon  facts 
within  his  own  knowledge.  But  I  confess  I  do  not  know 
what  you  mean  in  the  conclusion  of  your  report,  when 
you  speak  of  the  benefits  of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  as 
you  had  previously  informed  us  "  that  exclusive  cogni- 
zance of  the  matter,  was  by  the  Act  of  Congress  given  to 
the  officers  therein  numerated.  If  this  be  true,  then  their 
decision  in  the  matter  must  be  final,  and  your  pretended 
benefits  of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  is  only  sheer  mockery. 

I  have  thus  honestly  reviewed  your  Report,  and  the 
false  premises  it  has  assumed,  and  the  feebleness  of  the 
argument  by  which  it  is  attempted  to  be  sustained,  and  it 
has  more  fully  convinced  me  of  the  truth  of  the  following 
propositions : 

1.  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  does  in 
no  instance  recognize  or  guarantee  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  any  of  the  States. 

2.  That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  not 
the  power  to  declare  what  shall  be  the  tenure  of  property, 
or  the  things  of  which  it  shall  consist,  on  the  evidence  of 
right  to  its  possession.     That  this  power  belongs  exclu- 
sively to  the  States. 

3.  That  property  is  and  ought  to  be,  on  account  of  the 
materiality  of  its  nature,   a  mere  creature  of  law,  and 
ought  not  to  be  taken  into  the  account  in  the  original  Con- 
stitution of  Government. 

4.  That  when   property   is   found    in   one   State,   and 
claimed  by  a  citizen  of  another  State,  that  the  Courts  of 
the  State  in  which  such  property  is,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
are  alone  competent  to  determine  the  right  of  possession, 
as  well  as  of  property,  and  that  in  this  particular  the 
States  are  entirely  independent  of  each  other. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  263 

5.  That  the  claim  of  property  in  a  human  being  is  con- 
trary to  justice  and  the  natural  order  of  things,  which  is 
"heaven's  first  law;"   that  it  is  solely  permitted   and 
allowed  in  the  States,  not  guaranteed,  or  even  excused  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

6.  That  to  seize  a  person,  who  is  found  within  the  juris- 
diction of  any  State,  and  transport  him  beyond  its  limits, 
without  the  authority  or  permission  of  said  State,  is  a 
gross  violation  of  State  sovereignty,  as  well  as  of  indi- 
vidual right. 

7.  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
Ohio,  seeing  that  persons  are  held  to  service  and  labor  in 
other  of  the  States,  and  may  escape  and  be  found  within 
this  State,  to  provide  by  law,  in  conformity  to  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  the  rule  of  decision  by  which 
such  persons  may  be  reclaimed. 

8.  That  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  on  which  you  rely,  is  subject  to  the  exclusive  legis- 
lation of  the  different  States. 

4 

9.  That  the  legal,  or  Constitutional  presumption  is,  that 
States  will  faithfully  perform  their  duty  in  this  matter,  as 
they  do  in  the  election  of  Senators  and  Eepresentatives  to 
Congress. 

I  am  deeply  impressed  with  the  incongruity  of  the  act 
of  Congress  to  which  you  have  given  so  much  consequence. 
If  a  murderer,  of  the  deepest  dye,  shall  flee  from  the  jus- 
tice of  the  State  where  the  crime  was  committed,  and  be 
found  in  another  of  the  States,  the  Executive  authority  of 
the  State  from  which  he  fled,  is  required  to  make  a  demand 
of  the  Executive  of  the  State  where  he  is  found,  and  pro- 
duce a  copy  of  an  indictment,  or  an  affidavit  charging  the 
person  demanded  with  the  crime,  and  certified  as  authen- 
tic by  the  Governor  of  the  State  from  which  such  person 
fled,  before  he  shall  be  delivered  up  to  the  demand  thus 
made ;  while  a  person,  who  is  held  to  labor  ONLY,  in  any 
of  the  United  States,  and  shall  escape  into  any  other  State, 


264  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

may  be  seized,  or  arrested  by  any  person  whatever,  car- 
ried before  a  mere  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  on  oral  testi- 
mony, true  or  false,  or  by  affidavit,  taken  ex  parte  in  a 
foreign  State,  that  the  person  so  seized,  or  arrested  does 
owe  labor,  or  service  to  the  claimant,  be  consigned  by  the 
mere  dictum  of  such  Justice  to  a  condition  worse  than 
death  itself — to  perpetual  slavery;  thus  placing  the  murderer 
on  far  more  safe  and  elevated  ground,  than  the  unfortunate  slave, 
who  is  guilty  of  no  crime,  but  whose  condemnation  is  predicated 
alone  on  the  color  of  his  skin. 

When  I  look  in  the  statute  book  of  my  country,  and 
find  its  pages  stained  with  such  gross  injustice,  and  con- 
tinued there  for  so  great  a  length  of  time,  and  find  that 
injustice  sustained  by  men  of  intelligence  and  standing,  I 
can  not  but  exclaim  with  Jefferson,  "  I  tremble  for  my 
country,  when  I  remember  God  is  just,  and  that  his  justice 
will  not  sleep  forever." 

You  admit  that  slavery  is  both  a  moral  and  political 
evil,  and  you  place  the  existence  of  it,  not  the  commence- 
ment of  that  evil,  in  the  very  constitution  of  your  Govern- 
ment. I  am  not  willing  to  join  you,  and  thus  humble  our 
Republican  Institutions  in  the  eyes  of  all  mankind.  But 
this  is  not  all.  You  have  sworn  to  support  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  Did  it  ever  occur  to  your 
mind,  that  your  oath  bound  you  to  an  active  maintenance 
of  slavery  in  any  of  the  States  ?  If  it  is  proper  and  right 
to  take  an  oath  to  support  an  entire  instrument,  I  can  see 
no  immorality  in  taking  a  like  oath  to  support  any  of 
its  parts.  Yet  I  will  not  believe,  for  a  moment,  that  you 
would,  under  any  circumstances,  take  an  oath  to  support 
the  existence  of  the  system  of  slavery,  which  you  pro- 
nounce to  be  a  moral  and  a  political  evil.  "We  may  submit 
with  patience  to  the  evils  of  government,  but  to  swear  to 
give  to  those  evils  an  active  support,  is  a  requirement 
which  the  honesty  of  the  human  heart  will  not  submit  to, 
for  any  place  or  power  the  Government  can  bestow. 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  265 

It  is  a  strange  thought  indeed,  that  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  should,  by  that  Instru- 
ment, intend  to  rivet  anew  the  chains  of  slavery,  and 
guarantee  its  perpetual  existence  in  all  time  to  come; 
when  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  the  Ordi- 
nance of  July,  1787,  immediately  preceding  the  date  of  the 
Constitution,  and  while  the  Convention  that  framed  it 
were  actually  in  session,  gave  the  death-blow  to  slavery 
in  the  North-Western  Territory ;  it  being  the  first  portion 
of  Territory  over  which  the  United  States  had  the  right 
of  jurisdiction,  by  providing,  in  a  fundamental  article  for 
the  government  of  the  country,  "that  there  should  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said 
Territory,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crime, 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted."  This 
solemn  rebuke  of  slavery  was  given  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Kevolution,  the  first  moment  they  had  the  power  to  act 
on  the  subject.  The  debt  of  gratitude  the  people  of  this 
portion  of  the  United  States  owe  to  the  authors  and  sup- 
porters of  this  Ordinance,  can  never  be  paid,  nor  too  often 
acknowledged. 

Yet  you  would  have  us  believe  that  the  wise  and  good 
men  of  that  age  who  formed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  possessing  the  same  feelings  and  having 
the  same  interests  as  those  who  framed  the  Ordinance  of 
the  same  year,  intended  to  perpetuate  slavery  as  a  Con- 
stitutional right.  It  is  drawing  too  largely  on  the  cre- 
dulity of  your  fellow  citizens,  to  expect  their  credence  to 
such  a  proposition  as  this.  Permit  me  to  ask  you,  do  you 
expect  and  believe  that  slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  United 
States,  is  to  be  perpetuated  and  concurred  in,  in  all  time 
to  come? 

Look  upon  the  millions  whose  rights  it  has  trodden 
down,  and  who  groan  beneath  the  incalculable  load  of 
human  suffering  it  inflicts,  and  then  turn  your  face  to  the 
justice  of  Heaven,  and  answer  the  question. 


266  LIFE     OF     8ENATOE     MORRIS. 

We  have  petitioned  for  some  faint  alleviation  for  the 
evils  of  slavery.  Though  at  present  overthrown,  we  are 
not  disheartened.  Another  year  will  again  call  your 
attention  to  this  important  subject ;  and  it  is  hoped  that 
then  we  may  all  meet  it  with  greater  consideration  and  a 
deeper  sense  of  the  high  obligations  it  imposes ;  and  that 
in  the  pursuit  of  the  object  to  be  attained  we  will  neither 
do  nor  suffer  wrong,  and  that  the  moral  power  of  public 
opinion  will  be  sufficient  to  accomplish  this  work. 

Under  that  belief,  we  confidently  commit  the  issue  to 
that  Being  in  whose  hands  are  the  hearts  of  our  rulers, 
and  "  as  the  rivers  of  waters,  He  turneth  them  whither- 
soever He  will." 

New  Richmond,  March  3(M.  1837. 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  287 


CHAPTER  XX. 

MOBS  —  Alton  Riots  —  Death  of  Lovejoy  —  Mob  in  Cincinnati,  in  1836 — 
Public  Meeting  —  Birney's  Prnss  Destroyed  —  Warned  to  leave  the 
City  —  Gazette  Threatened  —  Speech  of  the  Mayor  to  the  mob  at  mid- 
night —  Public  sympathy  with  the  mob  —  Contrast  in  Public  Opinion, 
Mr.  Morris  invited  to  Dayton  by  the  Mayor  and  others,  in  1839  —  His 
Answer  —  Visited  Dayton  in  1842  —  Mob  Violence  —  His  Letter  to  the 
Mayor  after  the  mob  —  Remarks  on  Mobs  —  Mob  at  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, against  Cassius  M.  Clay —  His  heroism — Mob  spirit  at  Cleves,  0. 
Church  closed  —  Prayer  in  the  public  road  by  Samuel  Lewis  —  Infidel 
converted — Lane  Seminary  —  Trustees  forbid  the  Students  to  organize 
an  Anti-Slavery  Society  —  Dr.  Beecher's  Speech  to  the  Students— Anti 
Slavery  influence  of  the  Beecher  Family  —  Attack  on  Senator  Sum- 
ner  —  Condemned  by  the  North  —  Approved  by  the  South  —  Mobs 
overruled  for  the  extension  of  Anti-Slavery  Sentiments. 

REASON  and  truth  are  the  only  legitimate  weapons  of 
discussion,  the  true  tribunal  before  which  error  is  defeated 
and  truth  vindicated  and  established.  There  is  no  logic 
nor  light  in  the  use  of  physical  force,  or  violence ;  and  a 
resort  to  them,  is  a  perfidious  war  on  intellect,  on  right, 
on  every  divine  prerogative  of  man's  nature.  It  is  the 
utter  annihilation  of  intellectual  manhood,  and  subver- 
sive of  the  method,  which  Heaven  has  ordained  for  the 
development  and  triumph  of  all  truth,  and  the  exposition 
and  overthrow  of  all  error  and  wrong,  and  alike  destruc- 
tive to  social  order  and  civil  Government.  Free  and 
thorough  investigation,  is  the  right-  and  privilege  of 
all  men ;  and  all  things  are  subjected  to  this  searching 
ordeal.  No  system  is  exempted  from  this  universal  law, 
either  by  the  inhibition  of  the  Creator,  or  in  the  nature 
and  necessity  of  things.  "  Whatsoever  is  of  the  truth  cometh 
to  the  light"  and  desires  investigation. 


268  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

The  system  of  slavery,  alone,  in  this  free  Eepublic,  and 
in  this  age  of  intellectual  activity  and  analysis,  demands 
exemption  from  the  ordeal  of  thorough  discussion.  Fear- 
ful of  the  power  of  truth,  it  has  sought  to  prevent  discus- 
sion of  its  nature,  and  all  its  workings,  by  lawless  violence, 
by  the  logic  of  physical  force.  Almost  all  the  free  States, 
have  been  dishonored,  by  the  efforts  of  mobs  to  silence  the 
voice  of  freedom,  and  of  a  free  press,  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  Commercial  motives  —  fears  of  losing  the  trade 
of  the  South,  if  the  North  agitated  the  slavery  question, 
have  been  the  origin  of  most  of  the  mobs,  that  have 
taken  place  in  the  Northern  States.  Life  and  property 
have  been  sacrificed  to  the  ferocity  of  mobocratic  violence. 

Alton,  Illinois,  witnessed  the  first  blood  shed  in  defense 
of  the  rights  of  freedom.  Here,  in  the  press  and  life  of 
Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  was  a  ruthless  mob,  triumphant 
in  the  destruction  of  the  inalienable  and  Constitutional 
rights  of  American  citizens.  He  was  "  nursed  in  storm 
and  trial,"  and  for  months  nobly  contended  against  a 
mob,  headed  by  leading  citizens,  and  countenanced  by  the 
Municipal  authorities  of  Alton,  in  the  midst  of  men  who 
thirsted  for  his  blood,  and  with  a  courage  that  was  invin- 
cible and  morally  sublime,  he  waged  a  warfare  against 
the  unholy  crusade,  that  the  mob  was  making  on  life,  and 
the  liberties  of  the  press.  Three  different  times  was  his 
press  destroyed.  Public  meetings  were  called  urging  him 
to  desist.  But  he  declined,  nobly  declaring,  "  I  insist  on 
protection  in  the  exercise  of  my  rights.  If  the  civil 
authorities  refuse  to  protect  me,  I  must  look  to  God ;  and 
if  I  die,  I  have  determined  to  make  my  grave  in  Alton." 
There,  as  a  martyr  to  American  freedom,  he  did  die.  On 
the  night  of  the  7th  of  November,  1837,  while  defending 
with  a  few  friends,  a  free  Press  from  the  mob,  he  was 
murdered.  As  the  blood  of  the  Christian  martyrs,  was 
the  seed  of  the  Church,  so  the  blood  of  the  martyred 
Lovejoy,  was  the  seed  of  freedom. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  269 

Cincinnati,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  witnessed  an  extra- 
ordinary mob.  James  G-.  Birney,  of  Kentucky,  convinced 
of  the  sinfulness  of  slavery,  became  a  practical  emanci- 
pator, by  giving  the  boon  of  freedom  to  all  his  slaves. 
To  aid  in  the  work  of  general  emancipation,  through  the 
medium  of  the  press,  he  attempted  to  establish  a  free 
press  in  Kentucky.  This  was  denied  him,  by  the  slave 
power  of  his  own  State.  He  came  to  the  free  State  of 
Ohio,  and  under  her  Constitution,  which  declared  the 
right  "indisputable,"  of  speaking,  writing,  or  printing  on 
any  subject,  he  established  in  1836,  in  Cincinnati,  the 
Philanthropist. 

Here  also,  in  the  Queen-City-of-the-West — a  city  which 
owes  all  her  commercial  prosperity  and  wealth  to  freedom 
and  free  institutions  —  Mr.  Birney  met  with  a  strong  and 
unexpected  opposition.  The  city  was  moved  with  excite- 
ment. The  press  of  the  city  teemed  with  inflammatory 
articles  against  Anti-Slavery  men,  and  their  efforts  to 
publish  an  Anti-Slavery  paper  in  Cincinnati,  declaring 
that  "the  citizens  of  Cincinnati — embracing  every  class 
interested  in  the  prosperity  of  the  city,  satisfied  that  the 
business  of  the  place  is  receiving  a  fatal  stab  from  the 
wicked  and  misguided  operations  of  the  Abolitionists  — 
are  resolved  to  arrest  their  course"  Citizens  of  the  highest 
respectability  and  influence,  of  great  wealth  and  intelli- 
gence, "came  to  the  determination,  that  the  Abolition 
paper  should  be  put  down,  peaceably  if  it  could,  forcibly  if  it 


must" 


On  Saturday,  23d  of  July,  1836,  more  than  one  thousand 
citizens  of  Cincinnati  assembled  in  the  Lower-Market 
House,  and  there  resolved  —  "That  nothing  short  of  the 
absolute  discontinuance  of  the  Abolition  paper  in  the  city, 
can  prevent  a  resort  to  violence." 

A  Committee  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  was 
appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Birney  and  his  associates, 
requesting  them  "by  every  motive  of  patriotism  and 


270  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MOREI8. 

philanthropy,  to  desist  from  the  publication  of  their  paper, 
and  to  warn  them  of  the  consequences,  if  they  did  not." 
The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  expressed  it  as  his 
opinion,  that  if  the  Philanthropist  was  not  discontinued, 
a  mob  of  unusual  numbers  and  respectability  would 
destroy  it ;  that  it  would  consist  of  four  or  five  thousand 
persons  ;  and  that  two-thirds  of  the  property-holders  of  the 
city  would  join  it.  It  would  destroy  any  one  who  should 
set  himself  in  opposition  to  it." 

Mr.  Birney  and  his  associates  declined  to  surrender  the 
freedom  of  the  press.  In  their  answer  to  the  Committee 
they  say : 

"  It  would  be  a  submission  to  the  South,  that  slavery 
should  never  more  be  mentioned  among  us;  it  is  an 
attempt  at  dictation  as  insolent  and  high-handed  on  the 
part  of  the  South,  as  tame  submission  to  it  would  be  base 
and  unmanly  on  ours.  The  demand  is  virtually  the 
demand  of  slaveholders,  who  having  broken  all  the  safe- 
guards of  liberty  in  their  own  States,  in  order  that 
slavery  may  be  perpetuated,  are  now  for  the  fuller  attain- 
ment of  the  same  object,  making  the  demand  of  us  to 
follow  their  example.  The  attempt  is  now  first  made  in 
our  case,  formally  and  deliberately  to  put  down  the  free- 
dom of  speech  and  of  the  press ;  and  there  is  not  a  free- 
man in  the  State  whose  rights  are  not  invaded  in  any 
assault  that  may  be  made  on  us,  for  refusing  to  succumb 
to  an  imperious  demand  to  surrender  our  rights." 

"  Such  an  attempt  to  trample  under  foot  the  liberties 
of  the  people  —  so  deliberate,  so  carefully  matured  and 
backed  by  such  an  amount  of  moral,  intellectual,  and 
pecuniary  power — has  rarely  been  made  in  this  country." 
The  deed  was  consummated.  Saturday  night,  July  30th, 
1836,  to  adopt  measures  to  silence  the  voice  of  a  free  press, 
the  mob  met  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Seventh  streets ; 
and  formally  and  deliberately  entered  upon  their  work  of 
destruction.  The  office  was  plundered,  and  the  press  was 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  271 

taken  out  and  thrown  into  the  river,  and  Mr.  Birney 
warned  to  leave  the  city  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  Cin- 
cinnati Gazette,  the  oldest  paper  in  the  city,  then  edited 
by  the  veteran  Charles  Hammond,  which  had  discounte- 
nanced the  proceediDgs  against  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  rebuked  the  spirit  of  pro-slavery  so  rife  in  the  city, 
was  visited  by  the  mob  and  threatened  with  destruction. 
The  private  residences  of  several  anti-slavery  men  were 
also  visited  by  the  mob ;  but  no  violence  was  done. 

The  Mayor  of  the  city,  at  the  hour  of  midnight 
addressed  the  mob  in  the  following  speech  : 

"GENTLEMEN — It  is  now  late  at  night,  and  time  we 
were  all  in  bed — by  continuing  longer,  you  will  disturb 
the  citizens,  or  deprive  them  of  their  rest,  besides  robbing 
yourselves  of  rest.  No  doubt  it  is  your  intention  to  pun- 
ish the  guilty  and  leave  the  innocent.  But  if  you  continue 
longer,  you  are  in  danger  of  punishing  the  innocent  with 
the  guilty.  We  have  done  enough  for  one  night.  [Three 
cheers  for  the  Mayor].  The  Abolitionists  themselves, 
must  be  convinced  by  this  time,  what  public  sentiment 
is,  and  that  it  will  not  do  any  longer  to  disregard  or 
set  it  at  nought.  [Three  cheers  again].  As  you  can  not 
punish  the  guilty,  without  endangering  the  innocent,  I 
advise  you  all  to  go  home." 

This  was  the  first  deliberate  effort  to  suppress  the 
freedom  of  the  press  in  Ohio,  and,  though  encouraged  by 
such  powerful  influences,  it  signally  failed.  The  Philan- 
thropist was  issued  several  years  afterward,  under  the 
proprietorship  of  Dr.  Bailey,  and,  instead  of  a  weekly  it 
became  a  daily  Anti-slavery  publication,  under  the  title 
of  the  Cincinnati  Morning  Herald. 

Public  sentiment  in  the  city  and  in  Ohio,  has  now  so 
thoroughly  changed  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  that  it 
would  rally,  with  an  overwhelming  power,  against  any 
effort  to  put  down  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Truth  and 
light  are  omnipotent  in  disarming  error  and  prejudice, 


272  LIFE     OP    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

and  are  destined  to  inaugurate  and  establish  the  universal 
reign  of  freedom  and  justice. 

Mr.  Morris  did  not  escape  the  honor  of  being  mobbed, 
for  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  human  liberty.  In  May, 
1839,  he  was  invited  by  the  Mayor,  and  fifty  other 
citizens  of  Dayton,  to  visit  that  city  and  deliver  an  address 
on  the  important  questions  connected  with  slavery.  The 
letter  of  invitation,  and  his  answer  are  here  inserted. 

DAYTON,  May  6,  1839. 

HON.  THOMAS  MORRIS — Eespected  Sir :  The  undersigned 
citizens  of  Dayton,  attached  to  both  political  parties, 
admiring  the  honest  and  independent  course  pursued  by 
you,  while  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  in 
firmly  maintaining  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  State 
against  Southern  aggression  and  Northern  servility,  and 
in  refusing  to  barter  principle  for  office,  solicit  you  to 
appoint  a  time,  when  it  will  be  convenient  for  you  to 
visit  us  and  address  the  citizens  of  this  place,  relative  to 
some  of  those  important  questions,  which,  for  several 
years,  have  been  agitated  in  Congress,  in  which,  in  com- 
mon with  the  undersigned,  you  feel  a  deep  and  absorbing 
interest.  When  your  determination  shall  be  made  known 
to  us,  due  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  the  meeting 
shall  be  given. 

ANSWEE  OF  ME.  MOKEIS. 

CINCINNATI,  May  10th,  1839. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  received  this  day  the  invitation  from  your- 
self and  other  gentlemen  of  Dayton,  of  the  6th  instant,  to 
visit  you,  and  address  the  citizens  of  your  town,  on  the 
deep  and  interesting  question  of  American  slavery ;  that 
system  that  claims  to  be  superior  to  Constitutions,  laws, 
and  rights  of  the  country.  It  is  the  fountain  and  spring, 
as  you  justly  remark,  of  "  Southern  aggression,  and  North- 
ern servility."  I  rejoice  to  find  the  people  everywhere 


..*.• 

•    • 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  273 


examining  the  unjust  and  unreasonable  demands  of 
the  slave  power  in  our  country ;  that  power  that  is 
making  war  upon  all  political  parties  and  conditions  of 
men  who  do  not  render  it  the  homage  it  demands.  It  is 
therefore  the  duty  of  all  parties  to  unite  to  resist  its 
claims.  It  is,  not  only  the  common  enemy  of  our  country, 
but  it  is  the  common  enemy  of  mankind. 

It  claims  to  rule,  or  divide  and  ruin  the  nation.  We 
must  check  its  onward  progress,  or  it  will  soon  be  estab- 
lished in  principle,  if  not  in  fact,  in  every  State  in  our 
Confederacy.  My  best  efforts,  feeble  as  they  may  be,  are 
at  the  service  of  my  fellow-citizens,  in  aiding  them  in  their 
efforts  against  the  monstrous  demands  of  the  slave-holding 
power.  I  will  shortly  inform  you  when  I  can  visit  Day- 
ton, which  I  shall  do  with  great  pleasure. 

I  am,  with  respect,  yours, 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 

Mr.  Morris  did  not  visit  Dayton  till  January,  1841.  It 
was  on  his  return  from  attending  an  Anti-Slavery  Con- 
vention at  Columbus,  that  he,  at  the  request  of  a  number 
of  citizens,  attempted  to  address  them  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  He  was  prevented  by  a  mob.  On  his  return 
home  he  addressed  the  following  communication 

TO   THE  MAYOR  OF  DAYTON. 

SIR  :•  Though  I  address  you  in  your  official  capacity,  yet 
it  is  not  intended  that  your  character  as  a  gentleman  and 
a  citizen  is  to  be  overlooked.  As  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
Dayton  you  are  highly  responsible  for  the  peace  and  quiet 
of  the  town,  not  only  to  the  inhabitants  thereof,  but  to 
the  country  at  large.  As  an  individual,  you,  in  common 
with  your  fellow-citizens,  have  a  common  duty  to  perform 
in  the  establishment  of  the  power  of  the  laws  of  the  State 
over  the  reckless  passions  of  wicked  and  misguided  men. 
In  addressing  you,  however,  I  do  not  intend  that  you 


274  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

alone  shall  be  the  recipient.  1  wish  to  be  heard  and 
understood  by  the  citizens  of  Dayton,  of  the  State,  and 
country  at  large. 

You,  with  many  other  citizens  of  Dayton,  will  recollect, 
that  in  May,  1839,  I  received  an  invitation,  signed  by 
yourself,  together  with  a  highly  respectable  number  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Dayton,  to  visit  you  and  address  the  citi- 
zens. In  my  answer,  it  will  be  seen  what  I  understood 
you  to  mean  by  "  Southern  aggression,  and  Northern  ser- 
vility." It  was  American  slavery,  to  which  your  letter 
evidently  alluded,  that  produced  this  "  aggression,"  and 
"  servility,"  and  on  that  subject  I  wished  to  apprize  you, 
specifically,  I  intended  to  speak.  I  do  not  remember  that 
I  afterward  informed  you,  by  letter,  when  I  could  visit 
you  ;  but  soon  after  that  time  I  met  and  conversed  with 
some  gentlemen  from  Dayton,  at  Xenia,  on  this  subject, 
and  a  desire  was  still  expressed,  that  I  should  visit  Day- 
ton ;  but  the  numerous  calls  made  upon  me  for  a  like 
purpose,  probably  prevented  me.  It  was  not  under  a 
belief  that  mobocracy  ruled  in  Dayton. 

On  my  return  from  the  Anti-Slavery  Convention  in 
Columbus,  I  passed  through  Dayton,  and  my  friends  who 
were  with  me,  and  some  gentlemen,  residents  of  Dayton, 
agreed  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  citizens,  and  requested  that 
I  should  address  them,  on  the  results  of  American  slavery 
upon  the  morals,  as  well  as  the  political  and  financial  con- 
cerns of  the  country.  I  agreed  to  do  so.  Some  gentle- 
man, whom  I  know  not,  caused  to  be  printed  and  circu- 
lated, the  following 

NOTICE. 

Thomas  Morris,  formerly  United  States  Senator,  will 
deliver  an  address,  this  evening,  at  the  Court  House. 
January  23d,  1841. 

At  early  evening  I  repaired  to  the  Court  House,  not 
dreaming  of  any  disturbance  or  violence.  I  could  not 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  275 

suppose  that,  after  what  had  transpired  at  the  mobs  in 
Cincinnati,  and  in  Alton,  and  the  outpouring  of  public 
indignation  upon  the  actors  in  those  scenes,  another  place 
could  be  found  in  America,  much  less  in  Ohio,  in  which 
the  rude  hand  of  mobocratic  violence  could  overawe  the 
majesty  of  the  law,  and  trample  under  its  unhallowed  feet 
the  lives,  liberties,  and  rights  of  any  portion  of  the  people. 
But  I  was,  alas !  too  soon  convinced  of  my  error.  Soon 
after  my  entrance  I  heard  threats  of  personal  violence 
toward  myself.  Some  said,  that  if  I  was  in  the  house  I 
should  never  leave  it  alive ;  and  others,  that  they  must 
wait  till  I  commenced,  and  then  we  will  give  it  to  him. 

I  remarked  to  a  friend,  that  the  mob  was  ruling,  and 
we  might  as  well  retire.  We  did  so,  unknown,  amid 
their  yells  and  threats.  After  walking  a  square,  I  returned 
and  went  into  the  house,  and  found  them  censuring  each 
other  for  not  waiting  until  I  had  attempted  to  speak,  then 
they  would  have  had  me  in  their  power.  After  they  found 
they  had  missed  their  prey,  I  noticed  they  went  into  one 
of  those  "  Ohio  Hells,"  called  groceries,  where  wretched- 
ness, debauchery,  and  crime  of  every  grade,  are  sold  by 
measure,  and  swallowed  with  greediness.  I  left  Dayton 
the  following  day,  and,  though  informed  that  I  was  way- 
laid to  be  mobbed,  escaped  personal  violence. 

The  house  of  the  gentleman,  Dr.  Jewett,  whose  hospi- 
tality I  enjoyed,  was  assaulted  during  the  night,  with 
rotten  eggs,  and  a  carriage  destroyed.  Great  and  enor- 
mous acts  of  wickedness,  have  their  comcomitants  and 
results.  Such  attended  the  mob  scene  at  Dayton.  On 
the  Monday  evening  after  my  departure,  the  monthly 
concert  of  prayer  for  the  slave,  which  a  few  pious  persons 
in  Dayton,  believed  it  their  duty  to  hold,  was  observed  in 
Dr.  Jewett's  office.  The  presence  of  yourself,  and  other 
officers  prevented  the  operations  of  the  mob,  until  the 
close  of  the  meeting,  when  the  office  was  attacked,  and  its 
contents  destroyed.  Thus  has  a  religious  meeting  in 


276  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Dayton  been  set  upon  by  a  mob,  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
slave-holding  in  our  country,  and  attempt  made  to  set  up 
that  institution  above  religion,  law,  and  the  lives  of  their 
fellow  men.  Such  acts  as  these,  if  permitted  to  pass, 
without  condign  punishment,  will  soon  destroy  the  insti- 
tutions of  our  country,  banish  peace  and  quiet  from  among 
us,  and  compel  our  citizens  to  arm  in  defense  of  their 
lives  and  property.  Had  I  been  known  to  the  mob,  in 
the  Court  House,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  I  would 
have  been  instantly  murdered,  and  my  blood  shed  in 
the  Temple  of  Justice  and  law,  in  the  town  of  Dayton. 
My  life  was  spared,  by  nothing  short  of  a  special  interpo- 
sition of  Providence. 

I  now  protest  to  you  and  the  country,  that  I  had  given 
to  the  citizens  of  Dayton  no  just  cause  of  offense.  I  was 
there  as  an  American  citizen,  and  was  vested  by  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  country  with  all  those  rights, 
which  a  portion  of  my  fellow  citizens  wished  me  to  exer- 
cise. I  proposed  to  discuss  the  subject  of  American 
slavery  —  its  evils  and  aggressions.  Havel  not, as  an 
American  citizen,  a  right  to  canvass  the  demands  of  this 
giant  system  of  wrong  ?  What  does  slavery  in  fact 
demand?  It  demands  the  overthrow  of  the  religion,  the 
liberties,  the  morals,  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
country.  It  would  immolate  all  the  interests  of  the 
country  upon  its  bloody  altar,  except  they  would  bow  to 
its  supremacy  and  obey  its  behests.  Against  this  foe  of 
God  and  man  we  have  urged  a  perpetual  and  interminable 
war,  and  we  will  teach  our  children,  even  at  the  age  of 
nine  years,  to  lay  their  hands  upon  the  altar  of  their 
country's  liberty,  and  swear  eternal  enmity  and  oppo- 
sition to  slavery. 

The  mind  is  lost  in  perfect  amazement,  that  in  this 
Christian  land,  in  this  free  country  which  has  written 
Constitutions  and  laws  for  its  Government,  that  mobs 
should  be  found  who  endeavor  to  destroy  the  freedom  of 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  277 

the  press,  and  the  liberty  of  speech.  Why  should  this 
effort  be  made  in  Dayton  ?  Is  it  because  there  are  slave- 
holders residing  in  Dayton,  or  that  more  whisky  is  made  in 
its  vicinity  than  any  other  portion  of  the  State.  May  slave- 
holding  and  intemperance,  the  two  greatest  curses  which 
the  world  ever  saw,  be  speedily  abolished  in  our  country. 
We  believe  they  are  well  calculated  to  bring  into  action  the 
worst  passions  of  the  human  heart,  and  that  they  have 
been  the  moving  cause  of  the  mobs  and  riots  which  have 
so  often  disgraced  our  State. 

These  mobs,  said  Mr.  Morris,  in  a  memorial  to  the 
Legislature,  almost  constantly  employed  their  efforts 
against  peaceable  citizens,  often  ending  in  the  destruction 
of  life  as  well  as  of  property ;  and  that  for  no  other  cause 
than  that  such  citizens  were  opposed  to  slavery,  and  in 
favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  Black  Code  of  the  State.  Indeed 
to  such  extent,  and  under  such  influence,  have  these  out- 
rages been  carried  on,  that  safety  and  protection  in  the 
exercise  of  our  clearest  Constitutional  rights,  the  liberty 
of  speech  and  the  press,  is  rendered  very  problematical, 
even  in  our  courts  of  justice. 

We  claim  for  all  our  people,  from  our  public  functiona- 
ries of  the  State,  protection  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights, 
and  we  ask  this  from  our  present  Legislature.  We  feel 
justified  in  urging  this  subject  upon  the  special  attention 
of  the  General  Assembly,  because  we  have  heard  it  often 
suggested,  that  although  the  violent  proceedings  of  mobs 
were  by  no  means  justifiable,  yet  that  the  doctrines  and 
proceedings  of  Abolitionists  were  less  so.  We  will  not 
descend  to  libel  the  good  sense  of  the  country,  in  answer- 
ing such  suggestions.  We  approach  the  Legislature, 
however,  in  the  entire  confidence  of  the  truth  of  the 
declarations,  that  mob  violence  in  our  State  has  become 
dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  community,  and 
ought  to  be  suppressed  by  penal  enactments.  If  there  be 
an  existing  cause  in  the  country  that  produces  such 


278  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

violence,  and  if  such  cause  be  more  dangerous  than  the 
violence  itself,  suppress  that  cause ;  if  the  doctrines  and 
doings  of  the  Abolitionists  be  a  violation  of  moral  princi- 
ple, or  unconstitutional  or  dangerous  to  the  public  peace 
and  safety  of  the  country,  punish  the  propagators  and 
actors  by  law ;  if  the  freedom  of  speech  and  the  press, 
which  we  claim  as  our  Constitutional  right,  be  also  dan- 
gerous, punish  us  for  its  exercise ;  or  let  the  Constitution 
be  amended,  and  this  right  taken  away,  if  it  gives  to  us  a 
dangerous  license.  It  is  the  right  of  every  man  to  be 
saved  from  violence ;  and  punished,  either  in  his  goods  or 
person,  only  by  the  known  and  established  laws  of  the 
land,  if  guilty  of  any  offences.  To  the  laws  of  the  land 
we  owe  submission,  but  not  always  voluntary  obedience. 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  a  native  of  Kentucky,  with  a  number 
of  slaveholders  and  others,  established  in  the  city  of  Lex- 
ington, in  June,  1845,  THE  TRUE  AMERICAN,  a  paper 
devoted  to  "gradual  and  Constitutional  emancipation, 
and  to  uphold  the  Christian  morality  in  ethics,  and  Con- 
stitutional ^Republicanism  in  politics."  This  effort  for 
free  discussion  met  with  a  powerful  resistance  from  the 
citizens  of  Lexington,  who  through  the  public  press, 
declared  — "  That  the  subject  of  slavery  shall  not  be  dis- 
cussed, and  that  violence  shall  suppress  the  paper."  A 
Committee,  approved  by  a  public  meeting,  was  appointed 
to  confer  with  Mr.  Clay,  and  urge  him  to  suppress  the 
True  American. 

Mr.  Clay  met  the  crisis  with  heroic  courage  and 
chivalry,  declaring  to  the  Committee,  that — "  Your  meeting 
is  one  unknown  to  the  laws  and  Constitution  of  my  coun- 
try ;  its  purposes,  its  spirit,  and  its  action,  like  its  mode 
of  existence,  are  in  direct  violation  of  every  known  prin- 
ciple of  honor,  religion,  or  government,  held  sacred  by 
the  civilized  world.  I  treat  them  with  the  burning  con- 
tempt of  a  brave  heart  and  a  loyal  citizen."  Mr.  Clay 
prepared  to  meet  the  mob,  and  determined  to  die  in 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  279 

defense  of  his  birthright,  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and 
the  liberty  of  speech.  He  made  his  will.  All  his  rela- 
tions believed  he  would  be  murdered ;  and  "  all  but  my 
wife  and  mother  advised  me  to  yield  up  the  liberty  of  the 
press ;  but  I  preferred  to  die." 

The  True  American  was  immolated  at  the  shrine  of 
slavery.  On  the  18th  of  August,  1845,  a  Committee  of 
sixty,  from  a  public  meeting  of  twelve  hundred,  delibe- 
rately proceeded  to  the  work  of  silencing  the  only  press 
which,  in  a  slave  State,  gave  utterance  to  the  inspirations 
and  thoughts  of  liberty.  The  office  was  dismantled,  the 
press  and  type  boxed  up,  and  sent  to  Cincinnati.  Thus 
did  slavery  triumph  over  freedom  and  Constitutional 
right ;  and  in  the  person  and  property  of  this  noble 
champion  of  liberty,  gave  a  new  illustration  of  the  pur- 
pose of  the  slave  power  to  extinguish  every  light  that 
revealed  and  exposed  the  system  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Clay  is  now  honored,  by  the  voice  of  a  free  nation, 
as  one  of  the  able  and  intrepid  champions  of  freedom.  In 
the  great  contest  between  liberty  and  slavery,  he  has  been, 
and  now  is,  active,  earnest,  and  eloquent.  Wherever  he 
goes,  listening  thousands  hang  on  his  fervid  and  inspiring 
words  of  freedom.  He  is  a  practical  emancipator,  showing 
his  faith  by  his  works ;  and  in  every  battle-field  of  freedom 
he  has  fought  heroically,  and  won  honorable  renown. 

This  intolerance  to  anti-slavery  sentiments,  reached 
and  controlled  Christian  churches.  Notices  for  anti- 
slavery  meetings  were  refused  to  be  read  from  the  pulpit, 
and  churches  closed  against  all  meetings  to  deliberate  on, 
and  pray  for  the  overthrow  of  American  slavery.  The 
Trustees  of  Lane  Seminary,  in  1834,  prohibited  the  forma- 
tion of  an  anti-slavery  society,  and  declared  that  all 
discussion  on  the  subject  was  improper.  This  action,  so 
contrary  to  the  genius  of  Christianity  and  of  free  insti- 
tutions, compelled  the  students  to  leave  the  Institution, 
and  go  where  free  discussion  was  tolerated.  The  Institu- 


280  LIFE    OF   SENATOR     MORRIS. 

•*     •    ^h 

tion  itself  was  threatened  with  an  attack  from  a  mob,  if 
there  was  not  a  suppression  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
The  venerable  President  of  the  Institution,  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  whose  family  have,  by  their  genius  and  writings, 
given  to  the  an ti -slavery  sentiment  of  the  nation  and  the 
world,  an  extraordinary  extension  and  power,  said  to  the 
students  — "  Boys,  you  are  right  in  your  views,  but  most 
impracticable  in  your  measures.  Mining  and  quiet  strategy 
are  ordinarily  better,  as  well  as  safer  methods  of  taking  a  city, 
than  to  do  it  by  storm.  It  is  not  always  wise  to  take  a  bull  by 
the  horns.  You  are  right ;  but  in  your  way,  you  can't  succeed. 
If  you  should  succeed,  I  will  be  with  you,  and  swing  my  hat 
and  shout,  huzza!!1'  Leading  Literary  Magazines,  and 
newspapers  of  Cincinnati,  combined  to  disband  this 
Anti-Slavery  Society  of  Lane  Seminar}',  declaring  it 
"discreditable  to  the  Institution,  and  calculated  to  inflict 
a  deep  wound  on  the  great  interests  of  education ;  and 
the  indignation  of  the  public  will  put  it  down." 

Cleves,  in  Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  was  the  scene  of 
violent  resistance  to  free  discussion.  In  the  Spring  of 
1843,  the  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  Kev.  Mr. 
Scofield,  and  a  majority  of  his  flock,  called  a  meeting  for 
free  discussion  on  slavery.  Samual  Lewis,  Jonathan 
Blanchard,  now  President  of  the  Galesburg  College,  Illi- 
nois, and  Thomas  Morris,  whose  manly  voice  for  freedom, 
integrity  of  principles,  and  firmness  of  character,  have 
enrolled  his  name  among  the  early  champions  of  free 
speech  and  free  soil,  were  the  speakers. 

A  mob  was  organized  and  a  riot  threatened.  A  number 
of  Students  from  Lane  Seminary,  went  down  with  the 
speakers.  Landing  at  North  Bend,  they  passed  the  man- 
sion and  tomb  of  the  lamented  General  Harrison,  on  their 
way  to  the  church.  The  doors  of  the  meeting  house  were 
barred  against  the  friends  of  freedom.  Prominent  and 
influential  men  were  with  the  rabble,  that  prevented  the 
Convention  from  occupying  the  meeting  house.  The 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Convention,  thus  forbid  to  enter  the  house,  occupied  the 
road  in  front.  Rev.  S.  Lewis,  an  able  and  faithful 
laborer  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  recently  gone  to  an 
honored  grave,  kneeled  on  the  ground  and  offered  a  most 
solemn  and  impressive  prayer.  For  a  moment  the  rioters 
were  palsied  in  their  nefarious  operation.  One  of  them 
often  said,  "  that  prayer  I  shall  never  forget."  An  infi- 
del was  converted,  and  "  the  wrath  of  man  was  thus  made 
to  praise  God,"  and  advance  the  cause  of  freedom. 

At  the  invitation  of  Richard  Hughs,  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Berea,  a  mile  distant  from 
Cleves,  the  Convention  met  at  that  church  and  held  its 
sessions  two  days.  The  impression  of  that  Convention, 
abides  to  this  day ;  fires  were  kindled  that  are  burning 
brighter  and  brighter. 

The  Cleves  rioters,  not  satisfied  with  driving  the 
Convention  from  the  village,  smashed  the  windows  of  the 
meeting  house,  mobbed  the  house  of  the  pastor,  threw  his 
buggy  into  the  canal,  and  shaved  the  tail  of  his  horse. 
The  perpetrators  of  these  deeds  of  darkness,  chose  the 
covert  hour  of  night  for  their  mob  performances ;  they 
were  of  the  baser  sort  in  the  community,  but  were  insti- 
gated and  backed  by  quite  a  number  "  of  those  of  repu- 
tation." These  mob  scenes,  created  an  era  in  the  history 
of  that  region  and  will  be  long  remembered. 

Mob  violence  also  transpired  in  the  Temple  of  National 
Legislation,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  where  Thomas  Morris  had  stood,  twenty  years 
before,  to  defend  the  Constitutional  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  his  countrymen. 

Charles  Sumner,  a  finished  scholar,  a  brilliant  orator, 
a  ripe  Christian  Stateman,  and  a  Senator  from  Massachu- 
setts, had  devoted  his  genius  and  powers  to  the  cause  of 
human  Liberty. 

In   May,  1856,   in   the   Senate   Chamber,   he  made   a 
masterly  and  logical  speech  against  the  slave  power,  for  its 
24 


282  LIVE    Or    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

infliction  of  grievous  and  multiplied  wrongs,  on  the  free 
people  of  Kansas  Territory.  This  truthful  expose  of 
wrong,  and  manly  vindication  of  right,  created  great 
excitement  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  slavery  must 
have  revenge. 

Preston  S.  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  House,  from  South 
Carolina,  was  the  selected  champion  of  the  South,  and  of 
the  club  law.  While  Mr.  Sumner,  was  seated  at  his  desk 
in  the  Senate  engaged  in  writing,  Brooks  covertly  went 
up  to  him,  and,  with  a  heavy  cane,  smote  Senator  Sumner 
to  the  floor,  his  blood  staining  the  Temple  of  Legislation, 
and  crying  from  that  spot  for  vindication  from  an  insulted 
and  an  indignant  Nation.  Mr.  Sumner  was  dangerously 
wounded,  and  carried  insensible  from  the  Senate. 

This  nefarious  and  deliberate  plot,  to  strike  down  free 
discussion  in  the  person  of  the  noble  Senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, electrified  the  country  with  a  profound  and 
startling  sensation.  The  North,  inspired  with  a  general 
and  generous  impulse,  in  a  multitude  of  meetings,  where 
thousands  met,  denounced  the  great  crime,  and  demanded 
the  expulsion  of  Brooks.  The  South,  with  even  more 
unanimity,  approved  the  deed  as  chivalrous  and  right, 
and  thus  made  the  act  of  Brooks  the  symbol  of  their  own 
faith,  purpose,  and  practice. 

A  Committee  of  the  House,  of  which  Lewis  D.  Campbell, 
of  Ohio,  an  able  and  faithful  defender  of  freedom,  in  Con- 
gress, was  Chairman,  was  appointed,  who  brought  in  a 
resolution  of  expulsion  against  Brooks,  and  which,  after 
a  lengthy  debate,  was  adopted  by  a  majority  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-one  against  ninety-five.  Brooks, 
however,  was  not  expelled,  it  requiring  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  present.  The  moral  power  of  the 
vote  compelled  him  to  resign  his  seat,  and  appeal  to  his 
constituents.  He  was  unanimously  re-elected  ;  thus  pro- 
claiming to  the  world  that  his  violent  purpose,  and  act, 
were  approved  and  applauded  by  the  South.  This  resort 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  283 

to  mob-law  in  the  Halls  of  the  National  Legislature,  is 
painful  evidence  of  the  violent  spirit  of  the  slave  power, 
and  of  its  determination  to  rule  or  ruin. 

These  outrages  on  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  and 
in  the  destruction  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  of 
speech,  were  overruled  for  the  diffusion  of  light,  the 
extension  of  anti -slavery  sentiments,  and  the  re-awaken- 
ing of  public  opinion  against  the  designs  of  the  slave 
power.  Every  effort  made  to  suppress  discussion,  either 
in  the  halls  of  legislation,  or  by  the  violence  of  mobs, 
gave  an  intenser  glow  to  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  free- 
dom, and  multiplied,  by  tens  of  thousands,  the  friends 
and  advocates  of  human  liberty,  ready  to  resist  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  slave  power.  This  fact  is  evidence  of  a  Provi- 
dential government  over  the  affairs  of  men,  overruling 
evil  for  good,  and  is  prophetic  of  progress  and  final  victory. 
The  voice  of  millions,  now  in  the  battle-field  of  freedom, 
responds  to  the  noble  words  of  Whittier,  the  Poet  of  Free- 
dom and  Truth, 

Think  ye,  one  heart  of  man  or  child 

Will  falter  from  its  lofty  faith, 
At  the  Mob's  tumult,  fierce  and  wild — 

The  prison  cell — the  shameful  death  ? 
No !  nursed  in  storm  and  trial  long, 

The  weakest  of  our  band  is  strong ! 
We  can  not  falter !    Did  we  so 

The  stones  beneath  would  murmur  out, 
And  all  the  winds  that  round  us  blow 

Would  whisper  of  our  shame  about. 
No !  let  the  tempest  rock  the  land, 

Our  faith  shall  live — our  truth  shall  stand. 
We  bate  no  breath — we  curb  no  thought ; 

Come  what  may  come,  WE  FALTER  Nor ! 


284 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

ANTI-SLAVERY  Publications  —  Mails  Examined  —  Post  Office  in  Charleston 
Mobbed  —  President  Jackson's  Recommendation — Incendiary  Bill  — 
Speech  of  Mr.  Morris. 

THE  slave  power,  in  1836,  made  a  strong  effort  to  exer- 
cise a  censorship  over  the  public  press  of  the  country.  The 
Post  Office,  the  common  property  of  the  people,  was  used  as 
a  medium  for  the  transmission  of  Anti-slavery  publications, 
to  some  of  the  citizens  of  the  South.  The  exercise  of  this 
Constitutional  privilege,  awakened  great  indignation,  and 
efforts  were  immediately  made,  to  arrest  it.  The  Northern 
Mails  when  they  arrived  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
were  guarded  as  the  passed  through  the  city  to  the  Post 
Office,  and,  after  undergoing  a  thorough  search,  all  Anti- 
slavery  publications  were  taken  out  of  the  mails,  and  con- 
sumed in  a  bonfire,  in  the  streets,  in  the  midst  of  a  general 
rejoicing  of  the  citizens.  Similar  acts  were  commited  in 
other  portions  of  the  South. 

President  Jackson,  at  the  opening  of  Congress,  in  1836, 
recommended  in  his  Annual  Message,  "  the  passage  a  law, 
that  will  prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation 
in  the  Southern  States  through  the  Mail,  of  incendiary 
publications,  intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insurrec- 
tion." Mr.  Calhoun  reported  to  the  Senate  a  Bill, 
prohibiting  Postmasters  from  delivering,  "  any  pamphlet, 
newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  paper,  or  pictorial 
representation  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  in  any 
State,  in  which  their  circulation  is  prohibited  by 
law." 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  285 

Against  this  Bill,  Mr.  Morris,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1836, 
made  the  following 

SPEECH. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  am  opposed  to  the  Bill ;  it  contem- 
plates the  exercise  of  new  power  or  powers,  in  a  new 
form,  over  the  Post  Office  and  mails  of  the  United 
States;  and  if  the  power  contemplated  be  not  unconstitu- 
tional, it  is,  to  my  mind,  a  most  dangerous  abuse.  "  Con- 
gress shall  have  power  to  establish  post  offices,  and  post 
roads."  Those  words,  as  used  in  the  Constitution,  have 
an  evident  reference  to  an  existing  state  of  things,  and  the 
use  for  which  post  offices  and  post  roads  was  intended  — 
for  the  purpose  of  a  free  intercommunication  of  thoughts 
and  opinions  between  the  citizens  of  different  parts  of  the 
country ;  and  was  deemed  of  so  much  importance,  that 
the  power  to  provide  for  its  safety  was  vested  in  Con- 
gress ;  and  the  words  "  to  establish  "  were  used  to  denote, 
that  Congress  had  the  power  to  fix,  unalterably  and 
immovably,  beyond  the  interference  of  any  State  power, 
the  entire  operations  of  the  Post  Office,  and  the  traveling 
of  the  mail  throughout  every  part  of  our  extended  Repub- 
lic. The  Post  Office  establishment  was  not  intended  as 
an  attribute  of  the  power  of  Government,  but  as  a  means 
by  which  that  power  should  be  exercised  for  the  benefit 
of  the  citizens  individually,  by  providing  a  channel  of  free 
and  full  communication  between  them,  though  residing  in 
different  sections  of  the  country;  and  that  their  letters, 
papers,  or  pamphlets,  should  pass  without  any  hindrance 
or  molestation  from  State  authority.  This  principle  has 
never  been  considered  as  a  proper  charge  on  the  revenue 
of  the  country,  but  Congress  have  provided  that  it  shall 
be  supported  and  paid  for  by  those  who  use  it ;  Congress 
being  vested  with  its  management,  and  guaranteeing  its 
safety  and  fidelity.  The  use  of  the  mail,  then,  is  in  the 
nature  of  a  reserved  right,  with  which  no  law  ought  to 


286  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

• 

interfere.  It  is  not,  then  a  Government  machine  exclu- 
sively, which  Congress  can  withdraw  at  pleasure,  or 
render  nugatory  by  the  acts  of  its  officers ;  but  Con- 
gress have  the  power  to  regulate  the  expenses  of  the 
Department  and  fix  its  income,  so  that  the  Govern- 
ment shall  at  no  time  be  subject  to,  or  chargeable 
with,  any  expense  of  the  establishment ;  and  the  post- 
age has,  from  time  to  time,  been  regulated  accord- 
ingly. 

It  is  true  that  the  mail  is  a  great  convenience,  and 
probably  a  necessary  appendage  to  the  Government ;  but 
I  consider  this  not  to  be  the  first  and  most  important 
object ;  it  is  second  to  the  safety  of  intercommunication 
between  the  citizens  of  this  extensive  Republic.  Though 
this  was  the  primary  object,  yet  Congress  has,  in  the  regu- 
lation of  the  mail,  levied  a  tax  on  those  who  make  use  of 
this  privilege  to  the  full  extent  of  all  the  purposes  of 
Government,  by  the  exercise  of  the  franking  privilege.  I 
somewhat  question  the  correctness  of  this  franking  power, 
while  the  Government  contributes  nothing  toward  the 
support  of  the  Post  Office  establishment,  because  it  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  direct  tax  in  the  rates  of  postage,  which  is 
levied  upon  those  only  who  use  the  mail,  while  all  such 
taxes  ought  to  be  apportioned  among  the  States  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  numbers.  But,  Sir,  it  is  not  necess- 
ary for  the  purpose  I  have  in  view,  to  examine  this  point. 
That  Congress  have  power  to  regulate  the  mail,  and 
prescribe  what  shall  be  carried  therein,  I  do  not  deny ; 
but  I  insist  that  this  power  is  confined  to  the  material, 
not  the  moral  matter  to  be  conveyed.  Congress  can 
prescribe  the  weight,  the  bulk,  and  the  kind  of  material 
which  shall  not  be  conveyed  by  mail,  but  the  material 
must  be  judged  by  its  outward  appearance  alone,  and  not 
by  breaking  any  envelope  or  seal  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  this  fact ;  for  instance,  no  postmaster  would 
be  bound  to  put  into  the  mail  a  piece  of  sheet  iron  or  tin 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  287 

of  the  shape  and  size  of  a  common  letter,  even  on  the 
payment  of  postage  according  to  established  rates ;  and 
why  not?  because  it  is  the  usual  means  of  conveying 
mental  property  only,  and  because  its  very  texture  would 
tend  to  the  destruction  of  papers  and  documents  which 
the  mail  was  designed  to  convey,  and  which  is  its  legit- 
imate business  ;  but  if  even  an  article  of  the  above  kind 
was  carefully  folded  in  the  usual  paper  envelopes,  sealed, 
directed,  and  put  into  the  Post  Office,  it  would  be  a 
dangerous  exercise  of  power  indeed,  to  permit  a  deputy 
postmaster  to  refuse  its  conveyance  in  the  mail,  because  he 
should  judge  it  contained  improper  matter.  But,  Sir,  I 
would  say  to  the  Senator  from  Connecticut,  that  his  amend- 
ment affords  no  redeeming  quality  to  the  dangerous  prin- 
ciples of  this  Bill,  by  confining  its  operation  to  postmasters 
in  the  slaveholding  States. 

Can  we,  can  Congress,  take  from  any  citizen  in 
such  State  any  personal  right  or  privilege,  or  regulate 
under  any  circumstances  the  manner  of  this  engage- 
ment ?  I  should  think  not.  Suppose  a  letter,  package, 
or  even  a  pictorial  representation,  folded  and  directed 
in  the  usual  manner,  and  put  into  any  Post  Office 
in  the  United  States  :  I  would  ask  the  gentleman  whose 
property  that  letter  or  pamphlet  is  ?  Does  it  remain  the 
property  of  him  who  deposited  it  ?  I  think  not.  And 
though  postmasters  might  as  a  mere  act  of  courtesy,  permit 
the  depositor  to  take  it  back  from  the  mail,  yet  he  would 
not  be  bound  to  do  so,  because  it  is  his  sworn  duty  to  for- 
ward all  packages,  which,  in  their  common  outward  appear- 
ance, are  such  as  are  commonly  sent  by  the  mail.  Is  a 
letter  or  package,  when  left  in  a  Post  Office,  the  property 
of  the  United  States  or  Post  Office  Department  ?  Surely 
not ;  no  one  will  contend  for  this.  It  is  then  the  property  of 
the  person  to  whom  it  is  directed,  and  the  United  States 
have  given  a  solemn  Constitutional  pledge  that  they  will 
convey  it  to  him,  without  permitting  its  contents  to  be 


288  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

inspected  or  suffering  it  in  any  degree  or  manner  to  be 
detained  or  injured,  beyond  what  must  necessarily  take 
place  in  its  passage. 

Sir,  what  would  be  thought  of  the  honor,  or  even  hon- 
esty of  an  individual,  who  would  receive  a  letter  or  printed 
document,  under  a  general  or  special  promise  that  he 
would  deliver  it  safely  to  the  person  to  whom  it  was 
directed,  and  should  afterward  retain  or  destroy  it, 
because  he  should  be  of  opinion  it  contained  offensive 
matter  ?  Every  honorable  mind  can  furnish  a  ready 
answer.  And  what,  Sir,  shall  be  thought  of  the  honor  of 
this  Government,  which,  after  having  declared  that  "  The 
right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
PAPERS,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  should  not  be  violated,"  and  that  no  State  shall 
pass  any  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts ;  who, 
after  having  received  into  its  possession,  for  the  purpose 
of  carriage  and  safe  delivery,  the  PAPERS  and  property  of 
one  of  its  citizens  (for  printed  publications  and  letters  are 
property,  as  well  as  papers),  suffer  this  property  to  be 
seized  and  detained,  by  the  most  unreasonable  of  all 
means,  that  of  the  belief  of  a  postmaster  that  it  contained 
something  touching  the  subject  of  slavery?  or  permit  the 
States,  by  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  to  violate,  or 
rather  impair  the  obligation  of  the  contract  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  for  the  delivery,  as  well  as  that  exist- 
ing between  the  person  who  sent,  and  him  who  has  paid 
for  the  publication  or  document,  and  for  its  transportation? 
Sir,  the  very  thought  that  this  Government  is,  or  ever 
will  be,  disposed  to  listen  to  a  regulation  of  this  kind, 
must,  in  my  humble  judgment,  meet  with  the  most 
decided  disapprobation  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
American  people.  We,  Sir,  frequently  lose  sight  of  our 
argument,  by  attempting  to  extend  it  too  much  into  gene- 
ralities :  the  mind,  by  attempting  to  embrace  too  many 
ideas,  is  apt  to  become  confused.  I  will,  then,  make  a 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  289 

single  case  for  an  illustration  of  the  subject ;  and  I  will  take 
one  as  strong  as  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
could  desire.  Suppose  I  and  a  citizen  of  the  gentleman's 
own  State  should  see  proper  to  subscribe  and  pay  for  a 
New  York  Abolition  paper,  or  the  proceedings  of  an  Abo- 
lition society.  These  tracts,  by  the  laws  of  New  York, 
are  legitimate  property,  and  he  would  violate  no  law, 
cither  human  or  Divine,  in  making  such  purchase.  The 
United  States  has  an  establishment,  the  Post  Office,  by 
which  the  Government  has  given  a  general  notice  that  all 
property  of  this  kind  shall  be  conveyed  for  a  given  price  ; 
he  pays  that  price,  and  his  property,  thus  purchased,  is 
sent  to  the  Post  Office  in  New  York  for  that  purpose  ;  and, 
according  to  the  gentleman's  theory,  this  property  is  to 
be  seized  by  an  officer  of  this  Government,  without  war- 
rant, detained  on  mere  suspicion,  or  with  a  knowledge  of 
its  contents,  I  care  not  which,  and  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  person  to  whom  it  belongs,  and  finally  destroyed  ; 
and  that,  too,  in  the  very  face  of  these  sacred  pledges, 
given  in  the  Constitution  for  the  inviolability  of  its  con- 
tracts, and  the  security  of  papers  thus  sent.  I  should 
tremble  for  the  liberties  of  my  country,  could  I  suppose 
for  a  moment  that  Congress  would  adopt  a  principle  of 
this  kind ;  the  very  suggestion,  coming  from  the  quarter 
it  does,  is  sufficient  to  give  alarm. 

But,  Sir,  permit  me  to  turn  the  tables  on  the  gentleman. 
He,  too,  has  had  within  his  State  a  proceeding  which 
caused  much  excitement,  both  within  and  without  the 
State ;  I  mean  the  attempt  to  nullify  acts  of  Congress  on 
the  subject  of  the  tariff.  I  assure  the  gentleman  I  do  not 
mention  this  with  any  unkind  feelings  whatever.  If,  in 
that  excitement,  societies  had  been  formed,  and  publica- 
tions made  in  the  State,  for  instance,  in  which  I  reside,  in 
aid  of  the  doctrine  contended  for  by  the  gentleman  and 
his  friends  in  South  Carolina  ;  I  ask  the  gentleman  what 
he  would  have  thought  and  said,  if  an  act  of  Congress  had 
25 


290  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

been  passed  to  prevent  the  proceedings  of  those  societies, 
and  such  publications  in  newspapers,  from  being  sent  by 
the  mail  to  any  citizen  of  South  Carolina?  Sir,  I  have  no 
doubt  he  would  have  condemned  the  Government  in  the 
most  strong  and  emphatic  manner,  for  the  bare  attempt 
thus  to  embargo  public  opinion ;  but  we  are  now  called  on 
in  the  most  impressive  manner  to  sustain  a  like  measure, 
by  the  provisions  of  the  bill  now  before  us ;  a  bill  new  in 
its  character,  unthought  of  by  any  former  Congress,  and 
in  my  opinion,  well  calculated  to  produce  more  excess  and 
wide  spread  discontent  throughout  the  country,  than  any 
measure  that  has  been  submitted  to  the  consideration  of 
this  body,  since  the  existence  of  the  Government.  And 
pray  upon  what  ground  is  this  extraordinary  call  made 
upon  our  judgment,  addressed  to  our  feelings,  and  I  had 
almost  said,  in  despite  of  our  patience  ?  It  is  upon  the 
ground  that  the  General  Government' is  bound  to  respect 
the  laws  of  the  States,  to  aid  in  their  execution,  and  to 
permit  its  own  officers,  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  as 
required  by  acts  of  Congress,  to  be  subject  to  the  control 
of  State  laws,  and  liable  to  punishment  for  the  perform- 
ance of  those  very  duties.  And  it  is  further  insisted,  that 
slavery  is  a  domestic  or  State  regulation ;  and  that  the 
property  of  the  master  in  his  slave  is  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  provide  by  law,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes 
of  the  slaveholding  States,  or  any  one  of  them,  that  no 
pamphlet,  newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  paper,  printed  or 
written,  or  pictorial  representation,  touching  the  subject 
of  slavery,  shall  be  sent  into  any  State,  Territory,  or  Dis- 
trict, where  by  the  laws  of  such  State,  Territory  or  Dis- 
trict, their  circulation  is  prohibited. 

Sir,  the  whole  doctrine  is  founded  in  error ;  that  fatal 
error,  which  would  subject  the  laws  of  Congress  to  the 
different  policy  of  twenty-four  States,  and  thus  entirely 
destroy  the  usefulness  and  benefits  which  this  Government 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  291 

was  intended,  and  is  calculated  to  administer.  In  sup- 
port of  this  strange,  wild,  and  visionary  doctrine,  we, 
(the  free  States  I  mean,)  are  called  on  to  put  the  gag  into 
the  mouths  of  our  citizens,  to  declare  that  they  have  no 
right  to  talk,  to  preach,  or  to  pray  on  the  subject  of 
slavery ;  that  we  must  put  down  societies  who  meet  for 
such  purposes ;  that  we  shall  not  be  permitted  to  send 
abroad  our  thoughts  or  our  opinions  on  the  abstract 
question  of  slavery ;  that  the  very  liberty  of  thought,  of 
speech,  and  of  the  press,  shall  be  so  embarrassed,  as  to  be 
in  many  instances  denied  us,  and  if  not  entirely  pro- 
hibited, rendered  in  a  great  degree  useless.  All  this  is 
required  to  be  done  by  an  act  of  this  Government,  out  of 
respect  to  laws  of  one  or  more  of  the  slaveholding  States. 
Sir,  I  deny  the  whole  argument,  and  all  its  inferences, 
with  but  one  single  exception ;  and  it  is  that  which 
declares  that  slavery  is  a  domestic  or  State  regulation. 
While  I  freely  admit  this  as  my  opinion,  as  my  vote  on 
the  admission  of  Arkansas  into  the  Union  will  prove,  and 
although  I  may  view  slavery  both  as  a  moral  and  political 
evil,  yet  while  we  assure  our  brethren  of  the  South  and 
slaveholding  States,  in  the  spirit  of  truth  and  candor,  that 
we  have  no  power  to  interfere  with  their  domestic  regula- 
tions, and  that  our  sense  of  the  moral  wrong  can  not 
cause  us  pain  for  a  breach  of  our  political  duties  imposed 
on  us  by  our  own  consent,  with  a  full  knowledge  of  their 
condition ;  and  that  under  our  social  compact,  we  would 
be  bound  to  aid  them  in  the  suppression  of  any  insurrec- 
tion, whether  servile  or  free,  that  should  become  too  pow- 
erful for  their  own  laws ;  if,  after  all  these  assurances 
made  by  us  —  and  I  repeat  it  with  the  utmost  candor  —  I 
think  it  unkind,  if  not  unjust  toward  us,  that  gentlemen 
should  not  be  satisfied,  but  still  require  of  us  another  con- 
dition, that  we  should  acknowledge  that  slavery  is  guaran- 
teed by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  though 
I  have  heard  that  doctrine  often  repeated,  I  have  heard 


292  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

no  express  denial,  a  denial  which  I  now  venture  to  make 
in  this  Senate,  and  before  the  American  people ;  and  on 
behalf  of  the  State  I  in  part  represent  hero,  as  well  as 
myself,  I  enter  my  most  solemn  protest  against  it.  This 
is  the  important  point  in  this  whole  controversy,  and  on  it 
I  wish  so  to  express  myself,  not  only  that  I  may  be  under- 
stood, but  that  it  may  be,  as  far  as  I  am  able  to  make  it, 
impossible  to  misunderstand  me.  I  deny  that  the  right 
of  property  is  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  or  that  the  right  of  the  master  to  his  slave 
as  property,  is  founded  on,  or  arises  from,  that  instrument. 
Property  in  slaves,  as  well  as  other  things,  is  a  mere 
creature  of  law,  and  in  this  country  is  entirely  the  crea- 
ture of  State  laws.  The  word  slave  or  slavery,  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  and  by 
a  bare  perusal  of  that  Instrument,  without  a  knowledge 
of  the  past,  no  one  would  suppose  that  slavery  existed  in 
any  form  in  this  Republic.  Yet  I  am  willing  to  admit, 
that  the  Constitution  was  formed  with  a  knowledge  exist- 
ing in  its  framers,  that  slavery  did  in  fact  exist  in  the 
different  States ;  yet  the  slave  is  treated  as  a  person,  not 
a  thing ;  and  as  a  person,  not  as  property,  is  represented 
in  Congress.  Hence  provision  is  made  in  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  that  no  person  who  is  held  to 
service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  any  law  or 
regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from  service  or  labor, 
but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  the  claim  of  the  party  to 
whom  such  service  or  labor  is  due.  This  provision  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  only  recognizes  the 
existence  of  a  person  held  to  service  or  labor,  under  the 
laws  of  a  State,  and  in  its  application  would  as  well  be 
understood  to  mean  a  white  as  a  colored  person,  and  one 
held  to  labor  for  a  term  of  years,  as  well  as  a  slave  for 
life  ;  and  I  can  not  consent  that  this  provision  disproves 
the  position  I  assume,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  293 

States  does  not  guarantee  the  right  of  property  in  slaves ; 
yet  I  have  heard  this  so  often  and  so  earnestly  asserted, 
that  I  begin  to  feel  some  concern,  that  should  this  doctrine 
remain  much  longer  without  being  contradicted,  it  might 
become  the  settled  doctrine  of  the  country,  and  produce 
the  most  mischievous  consequences  to  the  non-slavehold- 
ing  States ;  for  if  it  be  true,  and  can  be  maintained,  the 
honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  or  any  other  gen- 
tleman, may  bring  his  hundreds  or  thousands  of  slaves 
into  the  State  of  Ohio,  cause  them  to  labor  there  as  long 
as  shall  suit  his  convenience,  and  withdraw  them  at 
pleasure ;  and  no  law  or  regulation  of  my  State — no,  not 
even  the  Constitutional  prohibition  against  slavery — 
could  reach  his  case,  or  afford  us  any  security  against  this 
innovation ;  for  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  laws  of  Congress  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be, 
or  is,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  the  Judges  in 
every  State  are  bound  thereby ;  anything  in  the  Consti- 
tution or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing. It  seems  to  me,  that  the  free  States  have  a  thousand 
times  more  just  cause  of  fear  and  alarm,  while  gentlemen 
so  strongly  assert  their  Constitutional  right  to  their 
slaves,  that  they  will  attempt  to  introduce  slavery  into 
the  free  States,  than  the  slaveholding  States  have  that  we 
shall  attempt  to  interfere  in  any  manner  with  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery,  as  settled  by  the  laws  of  their  own  States. 
They  are  attempting  to  overwhelm  us  by  the  power  of 
this  Government,  while  we  deny  the  right  of  Congress  or 
the  Legislature  of  any  State  to  interfere  with  the  internal 
regulations  or  police  of  another  State ;  but  while  we  deny 
this  power  of  legal  action,  we  contend  that  no  institution 
of  any  State,  or  of  this  Government,  can  or  ought  to  be 
exempt  from  the  moral  power  of  public  opinion;  that 
power  by  which  the  whole  fabric  of  our  institutions  ought 
to  live,  move,  and  have  its  being.  If  the  argument  as  to 
the  Constitutional  question  of  the  right  of  property  in 


294  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

persons   be  sacred  and  inviolable,  it  is  certainly  much 
stronger  and  more  forcible  when  applied  to  property  in 
things ;  and  although  a  State  might  by  penal  enactments 
endeavor  to  prevent  any  person  from  bringing  into  its 
jurisdiction,  for  use  or  for  sale,  playing  cards,  or  gam- 
bling machines  of  any  description,  yet  as  these  articles 
might  be  considered  property,  and  the  right  of  the  owner 
secured  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  such 
penal  enactments  would  be  vain  and  useless  attempts.    A 
state   of  things   of  this  kind  would  be  most  deplorable 
indeed,  and  one  to  which,  I  think,  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  would  not  long  and  tamely  submit.     Yet  if 
these  things  were  manufactured  in  a  sister  State,  held  and 
recognized    as   valuable    property  there,    our    condition 
would  be  far  worse.     Should  Congress,  by  the  exercise  of 
its  power,  attempt  to  prevent  us  from  speaking,  writing, 
printing,  publishing,  and  forming  societies,  for  the  exer- 
cise of  all  our  moral  power,  in  order  to  induce  the  people 
of  our  sister  States  to  refrain  from  such  practices ;  and  of 
sending  by  mail  all  such  proceedings,  in  order  to  induce 
them  to  abandon  their  pursuits,  by  proving  that  they 
were  both  moral  and  political  evils  ?     Yet  such  is  the  doc- 
trine of  the  bill   now  before  us ;   a  plain  exposition  of 
which  is  its  best  refutation. 

There  has  been  another  topic  constantly  connected 
with  this  subject,  that  if  Abolition  societies  and  papers 
were  not  put  down,  and  incendiary  publications  (as  they 
are  called  here,)  prevented  from  being  sent  into  the 
slaveholding  States,  the  Union  must  and  would  be 
dissolved,  and  that  the  South  would  take  care  of  her  own 
interests,  and  that  she  was  sufficiently  able  to  do  so.  I 
regret,  as  I  have  before  expressed  myself,  on  another 
subject,  that  I  so  often  hear  this  threat  of  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union  ;  it  is,  however,  a  vain  and  idle  threat,  calcula- 
ted to  affect  no  good,  but  may  do  some  mischief.  We  are 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  a  family  of  States,  and  the  allusion 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  295 

is  not  an  inappropriate  one.  What  family,  I  would  ask, 
could  long  continue  in  harmony,  if  any  one  of  its  members, 
on  the  least  dissatisfaction  with  the  general  economy  pur- 
sued, should  always  be  found  declaring  that  he  or  she 
would  dissolve  the  union  of  the  family,  or  secede  from  it 
altogether?  No  family  could  long  continue  happy  and 
prosperous  under  such  a  state  of  things;  nor  could  partners 
in  business  ever  be  successful,  or  labor  together  in  peace, 
if  one  of  them  should,  on  every  slight  occurrence,  which 
he  did  not  approve,  make  a  like  threat.  For  my  own  part, 
I  should  always  be  disposed  to  believe,  that  persons  who 
make  such  threats,  desire  what  they  threaten,  and  that 
their  continuance  in  the  family  or  firm,  instead  of  being 
a  benefit,  is  always  an  injury  to  the  remaining  members. 
Dissolve  the  Union?  "Who  has  the  right  to  do  this?  No 
State  or  individual  has  either  the  moral  or  Constitutional 
right  to  dissolve  or  secede  from  the  Union  for  any  cause. 
A  man  may  attempt  revolution,  and  may  commit  treason 
against  his  country,  but  whether  he  may  finally  receive 
the  reward  of  the  traitor  or  the  patriot,  may  depend 
on  the  final  issue  of  the  contest.  The  union  of  these 
States  can  not  be  dissolved  but  by  the  consent  of  the  people 
to  a  change  in  their  Government,  in  the  manner  provided 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  States  or  individuals 
will  never  be  permitted  to  do  it;  for  if  there  exists  in  the 
American  bosom  one  principle  of  patriotism,  more  strong 
than  another,  it  is  that  of  attachment  to  the  Union.  This 
principle  is  so  deeply-seated  in  the  hearts  of  our  country- 
men, that  it  can  not  be  shaken,  and  the  Union  must  and 
will  be  preserved.  All  threats  of  dissolution,  as  I  before 
said,  are  vain  and  illusory ;  they  never  can,  they  never 
will  be  Carried  into  effect. 

This  question,  like  most  others  agitated  here,  has  not 
been  suffered  to  pass  by,  without  an  allusion  to  party. 
We  have  been  told  that  such  is  the  influence  of  party 
discipline,  that  in  the  very  eye  of  the  gentlemen  rests 


296  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

one,  who,  by  raising  his  finger,  could  muster  the  party  to 
vote.  Insinuations  of  this  kind,  I,  for  one,  cast  behind 
me ;  the  country  will  judge  of  their  correctness.  It  is 
said,  however,  that  the  President  in  his  annual  message, 
recommended  a  measure  of  this  kind ;  and  it  is  strange 
that  his  party  should  now  falter.  I  follow  party  where 
the  Constitution  and  principle  lead ;  and  when  men 
attempt  to  take  their  place,  I  halt.  I  support  the  admin- 
istration party,  because  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  great 
principles  which  govern  them ;  and  I  endeavor  to  sustain 
them  in  all  minor  and  formal  points.  For  the  sake  of 
these  principles,  I  sustain  the  President  to  the  best  of  my 
abilities,  because  I  believe  he  has  done  more  for  the  liberty 
of  his  country,  and  to  place  his  administration  upon  the 
basis  of  the  Government  and  public  opinion,  than  any 
man  living.  That  he  may  sometimes  err,  is  human.  That 
his  most  ardent  friends  may  sometimes  think  him  in 
error,  when,  in  truth  he  is  not,  is  natural  to  expect.  But 
that  this  honest  difference  of  opinion  should  divide  them, 
his  opposers  need  not  hope  for  ;  that  he  has  recommended 
that  postmasters  and  officers  of  this  Government  should 
arrest  the  passage  through  the  mail  of  publications  of  any 
kind,  as  contemplated  in  this  Bill,  I  do  not  understand, 
but  he  suggests  the  propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as 
would  prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in 
the  Southern  States,  through  the  mail,  of  incendiary  pub- 
lications intended  to  instigate  the  slave  to  insurrection  ; 
not  barely  a  publication  touching  the  subject  of  slavery. 
With  great  respect  to  this  recommendation,  or  rather 
suggestion,  I  can  not  give  it  my  support ;  to  punish  inju- 
ries done  to  individuals,  belongs  exclusively  to  the  States ; 
they  have  ample  security  in  their  own  power  to  punish 
any  person  in  their  jurisdiction,  who  may  read  or  distrib- 
ute any  publication  which  their  laws  may  prohibit,  but 
they  can  not  reach  the  post  office  or  the  postmaster  for 
its  delivery  as  directed,  because  Buch  act  is  under  a 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  297 

paramount  authority.  I,  for  one,  doubt,  strongly  doubt  the 
power  of  Congress  to  provide  by  law  for  the  punishment 
of  any  act,  as  a  criminal  offense,  but  for  those  especially 
enumerated  in  the  Constitution  •  and  I  can  find  but  few 
such  grants,  such  as  counterfeiting  the  securities  and 
current  coin  of  the  United  States,  the  punishment  of 
piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  offenses 
against  the  law  of  nations,  and  treason  against  the  United 
States.  It  will  readily  be  perceived  that  I  confine  my 
doubts  to  punishments  to  be  inflicted  in  consequence  of 
judgments  by  the  civil  tribunals  of  the  country,  rendered 
in  courts  of  justice.  Whatever  is  my  course  here,  or 
elsewhere,  on  this  or  any  other  measure,  I  can  not  suffer 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  to  be  my  sole  judge. 
There  is  another  and  a  higher  tribunal  before  which  I 
must  and  am  willing  to  answer  ;  and  to  whose  just  judg- 
ment I  will  most  cheerfully  submit  for  my  opposition  to 
this  Bill. 

This  Bill,  designed  to  fetter  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
and  the  circulation  of  thought,  was  rejected  by  a  small 
majority  in  the  Senate. 


298  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

FOHMATION  of  parties — Their  nature  and  results — Politics  and  morality — 
The  necessity  of  their  union — Opinions  of  Washington — His  views  need 
a  new  application  to  parties — Mr.  Morris's  views  on  this  subject — 
The  platforms  of  the  two  great  parties  on  slavery — Necessity  of  a  new 
party — Liberty  party  formed — Its  platform — Birney  and  Morris  nomi- 
nated— Free  Soil  party — Its  platform — Van  Buren  and  Adams  nomina- 
ted— Hale  and  Julian  nominated  in  1862 — The  platform — Republican 
party — Fremont  and  Dayton  nominated — Its  platform — Letter  of  Mr. 
Morris  on  his  nomination — Address  of  the  Liberty  State  Convention 
— Votes  cast  for  the  party  of  freedom  in  1844,  1848,  and  in  1852. 

THE  formation  of  parties  is  a  natural  result  of  a  repub- 
lican form  of  Government.  The  freedom  of  thought, 
created  and  protected  by  Democratic  institutions,  gives 
rise  to  varied  political  opinions  and  policies,  and  these 
become  the  nucleus  around  which  different  parties  gather 
and  rally.  The  wisdom  and  beneficent  influences  of  par- 
ties, based  on  the  great  landmarks  of  true  political  science, 
admit  of  no  doubt.  They  are  the  symbols  of  political  faith, 
and  the  index  of  political  action.  They  classify  men 
according  to  their  various  views,  and  allow  them  to  act 
with  energy  and  unity  in  that  line  of  policy  congenial  to 
their  principles.  Parties  produce  conflict  of  opinions,  and 
collision  of  intellect,  both  of  which  contribute  to  a  healthy 
national  and  individual  growth. 

They  act  as  a  conservative  power  on  each  other,  and 
thus  tend  to  a  clearer  vision  of  political  truth,  and  to  a 
purer  and  more  patriotic  course  of  action.  The  danger  of 
parties  in  a  Democratic  Republic  is  not  in  their  distinctive 
organizations,  but  in  their  rigid  exclusiveness,  and 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  299 

clan-ship.  This  abridges  the  free  expansion  of  thought, 
compresses  conscience  into  party  platforms,  and  transfers 
the  judgment  and  actions  of  men  to  party-chieftains,  who, 
often  selfish  and  ambitious,  are  liable  to  make,  and  do 
often  make,  a  shipwreck  of  freedom  and  morality  to 
purposes  of  personal  aggrandizement. 

If  "  Parties  in  free  countries  are  useful  checks  upon  the 
administration  of  the  Government,  and  serve  to  keep  alive 
the  spirit  of  liberty,"  yet  there  is  great  danger  in  a  Repub- 
lican Government,  that  parties  will  lose  sight  of  great 
moral  and  political  principles,  and  absorb  their  independ- 
ence and  manhood,  not  in  devotion  to  the  interests  of  their 
country,  but  in  men  and  parties.  The  evils  of  this  are 
great.  It  tends  to  corruption  in  public  men,  and  to  the 
subversion  of  the  pillars  of  national  strength  and  pros- 
perity, by  disintegrating  political  science  from  moral 
truth.  The  philosophy  of  politics  ought  ever  to  have  an 
indissoluble  connection  with  moral  principles.  The  true 
end  of  all  wise  legislation,  and  of  true  political  science,  is, 
not  to  enunciate  new  moral  truth,  but  to  give  sound  polit- 
ical principles,  and  true  morality,  a  vital  power  through 
the  fabric  of  society  and  civil  government. 

Politics  is  a  noble  science,  combining  the  great  political 
truths  of  civil  government  with  the  truest  moral  principles. 
Webster,  the  lexicographer,  defines  politics,  or  the  science 
of  government,  "  That  part  of  ethics  which  consists  in  the 
regulation  and  government  of  the  Nation  or  State,  for  the 
preservation  of  its  safety,  peace,  and  prosperity ;  compre- 
hending the  defense  of  its  existence  and  rights  against 
foreign  control  or  conquest,  the  augmentation  of  its 
strength  and  resources,  and  the  protection  of  its  citizens 
in  their  rights,  with  the  preservation  and  improvement  of  their 
morals." 

This  view  of  the  science  of  politics,  elevates  it  into  a 
system  of  morality,  and  imparts  to  it  the  dignity  of  truth, 
and  the  sanctity  and  importance  of  Christianity.  It 


300  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

involves  the  whole  interests  of  the  nation,  and  is  inter- 
woven with  all  that  constitutes  a  true  State.  Moral  truths, 
therefore,  and  the  life-giving  and  life-preserving  elements 
and  inspirations  of  religion  must  mingle  with  politics, 
and  create  and  govern  every  system  of  political  policy. 
This  union  is  ordained  of  Heaven,  and  carries  the  moral 
sap  of  Christianity  through  all  the  tree  of  liberty,  water- 
ing its  roots,  giving  life  and  growth  to  its  trunk,  strength 
to  its  branches,  beauty  to  its  foliage,  richness  to  its  fruits, 
and  perpetual  preservation  to  its  existence.  To  divorce 
politics  from  morals  and  religion,  is  to  girdle  the  tree  of 
liberty,  planted  by  the  fathers  of  the  nation,  and  let  it  die 
in  convulsive  spasms,  or  by  a  lingering  disease. 

"Washington  gave  in  his  Farewell  Address  to  the  nation, 
a  solemn  utterance  to  these  cardinal  truths,  in  saying: 
"It  will  be  worthy  of  a  free,  enlightened,  and  at  no  dis- 
tant period,  a  great  nation,  to  give  mankind  the  magnani- 
mous, and  too  novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided 
by  an  exalted  justice  and  benevolence.  Who  can  doubt 
that,  in  the  course  of  time  and  things,  the  fruits  of  such 
a  plan  would  richly  repay  any  temporary  advantage 
which  might  be  lost  by  a  steady  adherence  to  it.  Can  it 
be  that  Providence  has  not  connected  the  permanent 
felicity  of  a  nation  with  its  virtues  ?  The  experiment,  at 
least  is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  ennobles 
human  nature.  Alas!  it  is  rendered  impossible  by  its 


vices." 


"  Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political 
prosperity,  Religion  and  Morality  are  indispensable  sup- 
porters. In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the  tribute  of 
patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pillars 
of  human  happiness — these  firmest  props  of  the  duty  of 
men  and  citizens.  The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the 
pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  cherish  them.  A  volume 
could  not  trace  all  their  connection  with  private  and 
public  felicity.  And  let  us,  with  caution,  indulge  the 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  301 

supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without 
religion.  Reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect 
that  national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious 
principles." 

These  fundamental  principles,  need  a  re-confirmation 
and  a  fresh  application  to  the  regime  of  parties  among  the 
American  people.  The  doctrine  is  now  proclaimed,  in 
party  Conventions,  that  religion  and  morality  must  be 
disconnected  with  politics  ;  for  when  united  it  is  said  "  It 
withdraws  attention  from  the  great  political  principles 
upon  which  the  Government  is  founded,  and  is  dangerous 
to  the  perpetuity  of  our  Republican  form  of  Government." 

Mr>  Morris  firmly  believed,  that  all  lasting  National 
prosperity,  had  its  existence  and  growth,  in  the  principles 
of  Christianity.  Two  years  before  his  death,  he  declared 
*'  That  one  of  the.  worst  signs  of  the  times  was,  the  fact,  that  poli- 
ticians and  men  high  in  public  favor,  were  in  the  habit  of  sneer- 
ing at  the  morality  of  the  Bible.  If  the  morality  of  the  Bible, 
said  he,  is  rejected  in  politics,  and  in  the  affairs  of  Government, 
it  would  have  but  little  influence  in  private  life,  and  the  conse- 
quences would  be  disastrous  to  the  character  and  happiness  of  the 
people  and  the  country" 

In  view  of  the  unsoundness  of  the  two  great  parties  of 
the  United  States,  Democratic  and  Whig,  and  to  restore 
the  action  of  the  Government,  in  regard  to  slavery,  to  the 
policy  of  the  Patriots  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  bring  poli- 
tics under  the  benign  influences  of  Christian  morality,  the 
friends  of  freedom  resolved  to  form  a  new  party,  and  make 
their  principles  known  and  felt,  through  the  ballot  box. 

The  ballot  box,  in  the  United  States,  is  the  prerogative 
of  freedom,  the  palladium  of  American  liberty,  and  the 
effectual  Panacea  for  the  political  and  social  evils,  that  may 
afflict  the  country.  It  rules  men  in  and  out  of  office,  and 
directs  the  whole  policy  of  the  Government.  It  places  the 
power  of  the  Government  into  the  hands  of  the  people,  and 
through  their  sovereignty,  the  vital  organic  principles 


302  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

of  the  Government,  are  made  efficient  and  powerful. 
Its  legitimate  domain,  covers  all  that  enters  into  the 
honor,  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  nation  ;  not 
only  the  principles  of  politics,  but  the  religion  and  morals 
of  the  people  of  a  Eepublican  Government,  are  closely 
identified  with  the  right  of  suffrage.  If  "  When  the 
righteous  are  in  authority,  the  people  rejoice,  but  when  the 
wicked  beareth  rule,  the  people  mourn,  "  then  the  people, 
who,  by  their  votes,  place  them  in  authority,  must  bo 
affected  in  all  their  interests,  by  the  Ballot  Box.  As  all 
political  policies  and  all  civil  Legislation  are  directed  by 
the  people,  in  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise  ;  and  as 
all  National  prosperity,  must  be  connected  with,  and 
supported  by  religion  and  morality,  the  power  and  influ- 
ence of  the  Ballot  Box,  is  under  a  Democracy,  omnipotent. 

It  must  be  applied  to  the  correction  and  eradication  of 
all  the  political,  social,  and  moral  evils,  that  are  chronic 
in  the  Body  Politic.  It  would  fall  immeasurably  below 
the  dignity  and  sublime  functions  of  the  Ballot  Box,  to 
confine  it  to  the  petty  business,  of  putting  men  into  and 
out  of  office,  and  making  it  the  mere  engine  to  drive  on  the 
well-constructed  machinery  of  mere  Party,  independent  of 
moral  principles.  "  Government  is  ordained  of  God,"  and 
"  Rulers  are  the  Ministers  of  God  to  be  for  the  punishment 
of  evil-doers,  and  for  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well." 
And  since  "  there  is  no  power  (civil  government)  but  of 
God ; "  and  since  civil  Rulers,  "  are  God'p  Ministers  "  attend- 
ing continually  to  be  "Ministers  of  good,"  the  great  pur- 
pose and  use  of  the  Ballot  Box,  ought  to  be  to  place  in 
power,  those,  and  those  only,  who  will  give  practical 
efficiency  to  the  principles  of  a  Christian  morality,  and  so 
promote  all  that  is  good,  and  extirpate  all  that  is  evil,  in 
society,  or  in  civil  Government. 

Senator  Morris  saw  its  relations  and  power  to  the 
destruction  of  American  Slavery,  and  pronounced  upon  the 
ballot  box  a  noble  eulogy.  He  said  that "  The  moral 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  303 

power  of  the  ballot  box  is  sufficient  to  correct  all  abuses." 
"  Moral  power  must  work  by  means ;  and  the  elective 
franchise  is  the  great,  if  not  the  only  means  to  make  it 
effectual."  "  Political  action  is  necessary  to  produce  moral 
reformation  in  a  nation ;  and  that  action  with  us,  can  only 
be  effectually  exercised  through  the  ballot  box."  "  If  the 
ballot  box,  then,  is  honestly  and  independently  used,  it 
alone  will  soon  produce  the  extinguishment  of  slavery  in 
our  country.  Eesist  slavery  by  the  ballot  box." 

"  It  executes  a  freeman's  will, 
As  lightning  does  the  will  of  God." 

The  necessity  of  a  new,  and  third  party,  to  resist  through 
the  ballot  box,  the  aggressions  of  the  slave  power,  had  its 
origin  in  the  practice  of  the  two  great  political  parties  in 
discountenancing  all  agitation  of  the  slavery  question. 
Their  platforms,  in  both  National  and  State  Conventions, 
contained  explicit  resolutions  against  all  agitation  of  the 
subject.  The  resolutions  they  adopted  are  presented  in 
chronological  order. 

The  Democratic  Convention  that  nominated  Lewis  Cass, 
of  Michigan,  for  President,  in  1848,  put  the  following 
resolution  in  their  platform : 

"  1.  That  Congress  has  no  power,  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, to  interfere  with,  or  control  the  domestic  institutions 
of  the  several  States,  and  that  such  States  are  the  sole  and 
proper  judges  of  every  thing  appertaining  to  their  own 
affairs,  not  prohibited  by  the  Constitution ;  that  all  efforts 
of  the  Abolitionists  or  others,  made  to  induce  Congress  to 
interfere  with  questions  of  slavery,  or  to  take  incipient 
'steps  in  relation  thereto,  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  most 
alarming  and  dangerous  consequences  ;  and  that  all  such 
efforts  have  an  inevitable  tendency  to  diminish  the  happi- 
ness of  the  people,  and  endanger  the  stability  and  perma- 
nency of  the  Union,  and  ought  not  to  be  countenanced  by 
any  friend  of  our  political  institutions." 


304  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

The  Democratic  Convention,  in  June,  1852,  met  in  Bal- 
timore, and  nominated  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, for  President,  and  William  R.  King,  of  Alabama, 
for  Vice  President.  That  Convention  passed  the  same 
resolution  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  in  1848,  and  these 
additional  ones : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  foregoing  proposition  covers,  and 
was  intended  to  embrace  the  whole  subject  of  slavery 
agitation  in  Congress ;  and  therefore  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  Union,  standing  upon  this  National  platform, 
will  abide  by  and  adhere  to  a  faithful  execution  of  the 
Acts  known  as  the  Compromise  Measures,  settled  by  the 
last  Congress — the  Act  for  the  reclaiming  of  fugitives  from 
service  or  labor,  included ;  which  act  being  designed  to 
carry  out  an  express  provision  of  the  Constitution,  can 
not,  with  fidelity  thereto,  be  repealed,  or  so  changed  as  to 
destroy  or  impair  its  efficiency. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Democratic  party  will  resist  all 
attempts  at  renewing,  in  Congress  or  out  of  it,  the  agita- 
tion of  the  slavery  question,  under  whatever  shape  or  color 
the  attempts  may  be  made." 

In  June,  1856,  the  Democratic  Convention  met  in  Cin- 
cinnati and  nominated  James  Buchanan,  of  Pennsylvania, 
for  President,  and  John  C.  Breckenridge  of  Kentucky,  for 
Vice  President.  This  Convention  put  the  same  resolu- 
tions into  their  platform  as  in  1852,  with  these  additional 
ones: 

"1.  Resolved,  That  claiming  fellowship  with,  and  desir- 
ing the  co-operation  of  all  who  regard  the  preservation  of 
the  Union  under  the  Constitution  as  the  paramount  issue 
— and  repudiating  all  sectional  parties  and  platforms,  con- 
cerning domestic  slavery,  which  seek  to  embroil  the  States 
and  incite  to  treason,  and  armed  resistance  to  law  in  the 
Territories,  and  whose  avowed  purposes,  if  consummated, 
must  end  in  civil  war  and  disunion — the  American  Democ- 
racy recognize  and  adopt  the  principles  contained  in  the 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  305 

organic  laws  establishing  the  Territories  of  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  as  embodying  the  only  sound  and  safe  solution 
of  the  '  slavery  question  '  upon  which  the  great  National 
idea  of  the  people  of  this  whole  country  can  repose  in  its 
determined  conservatism  of  the  Union — NON-INTERFER- 
ENCE BY  CONGRESS  WITH  SLAVERY  IN  STATE  AND  TERRI- 
TORY, OR  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

"  2.  That  this  was  the  basis  of  the  Compromises  of  1850 
— confirmed  by  both  the  Democratic  and  Whig  parties  in 
National  Conventions — ratified  by  the  people  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1852 — and  rightly  applied  to  the  organization  of 
Territories  in  1854. 

"  3.  That  by  the  uniform  application  of  this  Democratic 
principle  to  the  organization  of  Territories,  and  to  the 
admission  of  new  States,  with  or  without  domestic  slavery, 
as  they  may  elect — the  equal  rights  of  all  the  States  will 
be  preserved  intact— the  original  compacts  of  the  Consti- 
tution maintained  inviolate  —  and  the  perpetuity  and 
expansion  of  this  Union  insured  to  its  utmost  capacity  of 
embracing,  in  peace  and  harmony,  every  future  American 
State  that  may  be  constituted  or  annexed,  with  a  Repub- 
lican form  of  Government. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  recognize  the  right  of  the  people  of 
all  the  Territories,  including  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  act- 
ing through  the  legally  and  fairly  expressed  will  of  a 
majority  of  actual  residents ;  and  whenever  the  number  of 
their  inhabitants  justifies  it,  to  form  a  Constitution,  with 
or  without  domestic  slavery,  and  be  admitted  into  the 
Union  upon  terms  of  perfect  equality  with  the  other 
States." 

The  Whig  National  Convention,  in  1848,  nominated 
General  Taylor,  of  Louisiana,  for  President,  and  Millard 
Fillmore,  of  New  York,  for  Vice-President.  A  member 
of  the  Convention  (Mr.  Tilden,  of  Ohio),  offered  for 
adoption  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  while  all  power  is  denied  to  Congress, 


306  LITE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

under  the  Constitution,  to  control  or  in  any  manner  to 
interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery,  within  the  seve- 
ral States  of  this  Union,  it  nevertheless  has  the  power, 
and  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  prohibit  the  introduction 
or  existence  of  slavery  in  any  Territory  now  possessed  or 
which  may  hereafter  be  acquired  by  the  United  States. 

This  resolution  was  refused,  by  a  vote  of  the  Conven- 
tion, to  be  put  into  the  Whig  Platform. 

In  June,  1852,  the  Convention  of  the  Whig  party  nomi- 
nated Winfield  Scott,  of  New  York,  for  President,  and 
William  K.  Graham,  of  North  Carolina,  for  Yice-Presi- 
dent.  That  Convention  put  the  following  resolution  into 
their  Platform ; 

Resolved,  That  the  series  of  acts  of  the  thirty -first  Con- 
gress (the  act  known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  included), 
are  received  and  acquiesced  in  by  the  Whig  party  of  the 
United  States,  as  a  settlement  in  principle  and  substance, 
of  the  dangerous  and  exciting  questions  which  they 
embrace  ;  and,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  we  will  main- 
tain them,  and  insist  upon  their  strict  enforcement,  until 
time  and  experience  shall  demonstrate  the  necessity  of 
further  legislation,  to  guard  against  evasion  of  the  laws  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  abuse  of  their  powers  on  the  other, 
not  impairing  their  present  efficiency  ;  and  we  deprecate 
all  future  agitation  of  the  question  thus  settled  as  dan- 
gerous to  our  peace ;  and  we  will  discountenance  all 
efforts  to  continue  or  renew  such  agitation,  whenever, 
wherever,  or  however  the  attempt  may  be  made ;  and  we 
will  maintain  this  system  as  essential  to  the  Nationality 
of  the  Whig  party,  and  the  integrity  of  the  Union. 

This  subserviency  of  the  two  great  parties  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  slave  power,  having  its  increasing  development 
during  the  Senatorial  term  of  Mr.  Morris,  demanded  the 
formation  of  a  new  and  third  party,  to  resist  slavery  by 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  307 

the  ballot  box.  Accordingly,  in  1840,  the  friends  of  free- 
dom organized  themselves  under  the  name  of  the  LIBERTY- 
PARTY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  A  Convention  was  called, 
in  April,  1840,  at  Albany,  New  York,  to  discuss  the 
question  of  an  independent  nomination  of  Abolition 
candidates  for  the  two  highest  offices  in  our  National 
Government,  and  if  thought  expedient,  to  make  such 
nominations  for  the  friends  of  freedom  to  support,  at  the 
next  election.  This  Convention  met,  and  nominated 
James  G.  Birney  for  President  and  Thomas  Earle  for 
Vice-President. 

In  August,  1843,  the  Liberty-Party  met  in  a  mass  Con- 
vention, in  Buffalo,  New  York,  to  nominate  their  National 
candidates.  Every  free  State  but  New  Hampshire  was 
represented,  and  more  than  a  thousand  delegates  were  in 
attendance.  Hon.  Leicester  King,  of  Ohio,  an  able  and 
veteran  friend  of  freedom,  presided  over  that  Convention 
of  freemen. 

The  Convention  proceeded  to  nominate  their  candi- 
dates ;  and  James  G.  Birney,  of  Michigan,  was  unani- 
mously selected  as  their  candidate  for  President,  and 
Thomas  Morris,  of  Ohio,  for  Vice-President. 

The  following  Platform  was  adopted,  as  the  principles 
and  policy  of  the  Liberty-Party : 

1.  Resolved,  That  human  brotherhood  is  a  cardinal  doc- 
trine of  true  Democracy,  as  well  as  of  pure  Christianity, 
which  spurns  all  inconsistent  limitations ;  and  neither  the 
political  party  which  repudiates  it,  nor  the  political  sys- 
tem which  is  based  upon  and  controlled  in  its  practical 
workings  by  it,  can  be  truly  democratic  or  permanent. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty-Party,  placing  itself  upon 
this  broad    principle,   will    demand    the    absolute    and 
unqualified   divorce   of   the   General    Government  from 
slavery,  and  also  the  restoration  of  equal  rights  among 
men  in  every  State,  where  the  party  exists,  or  may  exist. 


308  LIFE    OF   SENATOR     MORRIS. 

3.  Resolved,    That    the    Liberty-Party  has    not   been 
organized  for  any  temporary  purpose,  by  interested  poli- 
ticians, but  has  arisen  from  among  the  people,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  conviction,  hourly  gaining  ground,  that  no 
other  party  in  the  country  represents  the  true  principles 
of  American  Liberty,  or  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  iTnited  States. 

4.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty-Party  has  not  been  organ- 
ized merely  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery.    Its  first  decided 
effort  must  indeed  be  directed  against  slaveholding,  as  the 
grossest  form,  and  most  revolting  manifestation  of  des- 
potism ;  but  it  will  also  carry  out  the  principles  of  equal 
rights  into  all  its  practical  consequences  and  applications, 
and  support  every  just  measure  conducive  to  individual 
and  social  freedom. 

5.  Resolved,  That  the  Liberty-Party  is  not  a  sectional 
party,  but  a  National  party ;  has  not  originated  in  a  desire 
to  accomplish  a  single  object,  but  in  a  comprehensive 
regard  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  country ;  is  not  a  new 
party,  or  a  third  party,  but  is  the  party  of  1776,  reviving 
the  principles  of  that  memorable  era,  and  striving  to 
carry  them  into  practical  application. 

6.  Resolved,  That  it  was  understood  in  the  times  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution,  that 
the  existence  of  slavery  in  some  of  the  States,  was  in 
derogation  of  the  principles  of  American  liberty,  and  a 
deep  stain  upon  the  character  of  the  country ;  and  the 
implied  faith  of  the  States,  and  of  the  Nation,  was  pledged, 
that  slavery  should  never  be  extended  beyond  its  then 
existing  limits ;  but  should  be  gradually,  and,  yet  at  no 
distant  day,  abolished  by  State  authority. 

7.  Resolved,  That  we  believe  intelligence,  religion  and 
morality,  to  be  the  indispensable  supports  of  a  good 
government. 

8.  Resolved,   That  we    regard  voting,   in   an   eminent 
degree,   as  a  moral    and    religious    duty,  which  when 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  309 

exercised,  should  be  by  voting  for  those  who  will  do  all 
in  their  power  for  immediate  emancipation. 

9.  Resolved,  That  we  especially  entreat  the  friends  of 
liberty  in  the  slave  States  to  reflect  on  the  vast  import- 
ance of  voting  openly  for  Liberty  and  Liberty  men,  and 
to  remember  and  adopt  the  words  of  the  illustrious  Wash- 
ington, who  said — "There  is  but  one  proper  and  effectual 
mode  by  which  the  abolition  of  slavery  can  be  accom- 
plished, and  that  is  by  legislative  authority ;  and  this,  as 
far  as  my  suffrage  will  go,  shall  not  be  wanting.11 

10.  Resolved,  That  it  is  a  principle  of  universal  morality, 
that  the  laws  of  the  Creator  are  paramount  to  all  human 
laws  ;  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Apostle,  that  "  we  ought 
to  obey  God  rather  than  man." 

In  August,  1848,  a  Convention  of  the  friends  of  freedom 
met  in  Buffalo,  as  the  Free-Soil  party  of  the  country, 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  This  Convention 
nominated  Martin  Yan  Buren,  of  New  York,  for  Presi- 
dent, and  Charles  Francis  Adams  (a  son  of  John  Quincy 
Adams),  for  Yice-President.  The  Platform  of  Kesolutions 
was  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  we  the  people,  here  assembled,  remem- 
bering the  example  of  our  fathers  in  the  days  of  the  first 
Declaration  of  Independence,  putting  our  trust  in  God  for 
the  triumph  of  our  cause,  and  invoking  His  guidance  in 
our  endeavors  to  advance  it,  in  opposition  to  the  sectional 
Platform  of  Slavery. 

Resolved,  That  slavery  in  the  several  States  of  this 
Union  which  recognize  its  existence,  depends  upon  State 
laws  alone,  which  can  not  be  repealed  or  modified  by  tjhe 
Federal  Government,  and  for  which  laws  that  Govern- 
ment is  not  responsible.  We  therefore  propose  no  inter- 
ference by  Congress  with  slavery  within  the  limits  of  any 
State. 

Resolved,  That  the  Proviso  of  Jefferson,  to  prohibit  the 


310  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

existence  of  slavery,  after  1800,  in  all  Territories  in  the 
United  States,  Southern  and  Northern ;  the  votes  of  six 
States  and  sixteen  Delegates  in  the  Congress  of  1784,  for 
the  Proviso,  to  three  States  and  seven  Delegates  against 
it ;  the  actual  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  North-West- 
ern Territory,  by  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  unanimously 
adopted  by  the  States  in  Congress ;  and  the  entire  history 
of  that  period — clearly  show,  that  it  was  the  settled  policy 
of  the  Nation  not  to  extend,  nationalize,  or  encourage, 
but  to  limit,  localize,  and  discourage  slavery;  and  to  this 
policy,  which  should  never  have  been  departed  from,  the 
Government  ought  to  return. 

Resolved,  That  our  Fathers  ordained  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  in  order,  among  other  great  national 
objects,  to  establish  justice,  promote  the  general  welfare, 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  but  expressly  denied  to 
the  Federal  Government,  which  they  created,  all  Constitu- 
tional power  to  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property,  without  due  legal  process. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  judgment  of  this  Convention,  Con- 
gress has  no  more  power  to  make  a  slave,  than  to  make  a 
king;  no  more  power  to  institute  or  establish  slavery, 
than  to  institute  or  establish  a  monarchy,  —  no  such 
power  can  be  found  among  those  specially  conferred  by 
the  Constitution,  or  derived  by  just  implication  from  them. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Federal  Government 
to  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  for  the  existence  or 
continuance  of  slavery,  wherever  that  Government  pos- 
sesses Constitutional  authority  to  legislate  on  that  subject, 
and  is  thus  responsible  for  its  existence. 

Resolved,  That  the  true,  and,  in  the  judgment  of  this 
Convention,  the  only  safe  means  of  preventing  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  into  territory  now  free,  is  to  prohibit  its 
existence  in  all  such  territory  by  an  act  of  Congress. 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  the  issue  which  the  slave  power 
has  forced  upon  us,  and  to  their  demand  for  more  slave 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  311 

States,  and  more  slave  Territories,  our  calm  but  firm 
answer  is ;  no  more  slave  States,  and  no  more  slave  Terri- 
tories. Let  the  soil  of  our  extensive  domains  be  ever  kept 
free,  for  the  hardy  pioneers  of  our  own  land,  and  the 
oppressed  and  banished  of  other  lands,  seeking  homes  of 
comfort  and  fields  of  enterprise  in  the  new  world. 

Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  accepting  the  nomination,  declared 
in  a  public  letter,  "  I  have  examined  and  considered  the 
platform  adopted  by  the  Buffalo  Convention,  as  defining 
the  political  creed  of  the  "  Free  Democracy,"  with  the 
attention  due  to  the  grave  subjects  under  which  it  is  pre- 
sented. It  breaths  the  right  spirit,  and  presents  a  politi- 
cal chart  which,  with  the  explanation  I  am  about  to 
make,  I  can  in  good  faith,  adopt  and  sustain.  The  pres- 
ent movement,  in  the  public  mind,  said  he,  in  the  non- 
slaveholding  States,  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  is  caused 
mainly  by  an  earnest  desire  to  uphold  and  enforce  the  policy 
in  regard  to  it,  established  by  the  founders  of  the  Eepublic." 

It  is  a  singular  fact  illustrative  of  the  changes  that 
politicians  have  made  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  once  the  idol  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  by 
it  elected  to  the  Presidency  in  1836,  and  who  in  his 
Inaugural  Address,  discountenanced  the  agitation  of 
slavery  in  Congress,  declaring  he  would  veto  any  Bill 
passed  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  became  the  Presidential  candidate  of  the  Free 
Soil  party,  in  1848,  and  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  defeat 
of  Mr.  Cass,  who  was  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party,  then  in  unnatural  alliance  with  the  slave  power ; 
and  it  is  even  more  singular,  that  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  his 
friends  in  the  great  State  of  New  York,  renouncing  their 
free  soil  principles  of  1848,  should,  in  1856,  commit  them- 
selves, to  a  platform  of  principles,  that  gives  no  restric- 
tion to  the  extension  of  slavery.  Such  changes  in  men 
and  parties,  are  sad  illustrations  of  the  power  of  slavery 


312  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

over  the  brightest  intellects,   and  the  most    sagacious 
Statesmen  of  our  country. 

In  1852,  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  one  of  the 
earliest,  and  ablest  advocates  of  freedom,  and  who,  like 
Mr.  Morris,  stood  firm,  in  resisting  the  slave  power  in 
Congress,  in  the  darkest  hours  of  opposition,  was,  by  the 
friends  of  freedom,  put  in  nomination  for  the  President, 
and  George  W.  Julian,  of  Indiana,  for  Vice  President. 
The  Platform  on  which  they  stood  in  that  contest,  was  as 
follows  : 

"  That  no  permanent  settlement  of  the  slavery  question 
can  be  looked  for,  except  in  the  practical  recognition  of 
the  truth  that  slavery  is  sectional  and  freedom  national ; 
by  the  total  separation  of  the  General  Government  from 
slavery,  and  the  exercise  of  its  legitimate  and  Constitu- 
tional influence  on  the  side  of  freedom,  by  leaving  to  the 
States  the  whole  subject  of  slavery  and  the  extradition  of 
fugitives  from  service. 

"  That  slavery  is  a  sin  against  God  and  a  crime  against 
man,  the  enormity  of  which,  no  human  enactment  or 
usage  can  make  right,  and  that  Christianity,  humanity, 
and  patriotism  alike  demand  its  abolition. 

"  That  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850,  is  repugnant  to 
the  Constitution,  to  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  to 
the  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  to  the  sentiments  of  the 
civilized  world.  "We  therefore  deny  its  binding  force 
upon  the  American  people,  and  we  demand  its  immediate 
and  total  repeal. 

"  That  the  doctrine  that  any  human  law  is  a  'finality,' 
and  not  subject  to  modification  or  repeal,  is  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  creed  of  the  founders  of  our  Government, 
and  is  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people." 

On  the  17th  of  June,  1856,  in  Philadelphia,  the  city 
where  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  adopted  and 
read,  from  the  steps  of  the  Old  State  House,  by  one  of  its 
immortal  Signers,  to  the  multitudes  assembled  to  hear, 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  313 

and  who  responded  to  its  sentiments  of  liberty  with  loud 
and  enthusiastic  greetings,  a  large  Convention  of  freemen, 
met  to  nominate  candidates,  to  represent  the  sentiments 
of  liberty  and  the  political  policy,  which  the  freemen 
and  patriots  of  Revolutionary  memory  had  roused,  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  Every  Free  State  was  largely  repre- 
sented, as  well  as  delegates  from  the  slave  States  of 
Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  Kentucky  and  Missouri. 
It  was  a  great  assemblage  convened  to  promote  a  great 
and  noble  cause.  This  Convention  unanimously  nomina- 
ted John  Charles  Fremont,  of  California,  for  President, 
and  William  L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey,  for  Yice  Presi- 
dent. The  platform  adopted  by  the  Republican  Party,  in 
this  important  Presidential  canvas  was  as  follows : 

NATIONAL  PLATFORMOF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

The  Convention  of  Delegates  having  assembled  in  pur- 
suance to  a  call  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  without  regard  to  past  political  differences  or 
divisions,  who  are  now  opposed  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise;  to  the  policy  of  the  present 
Administration ;  to  the  extension  of  slavery  into  free 
territory ;  in  favor  of  the  admission  of  Kansas  ;  of  resto- 
ring the  action  of  the  Federal  Government  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  presenting  candidates  for  the  offices  of  President  and 
Yice  President,  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  pro- 
mulgated in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  embo- 
died in  the  Federal  Constitution,  are  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  our  Republican  institutions  and  the 
Federal  Constitution:  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the 
Union  of  the  States  must  and  shall  be  preserved. 

Resolved,  That  with  our  Republican  Fathers,  we  hold  it 
to  be  a  self-evident  truth,  that  all  men  are  endowed  with 
the  inalienable  right  to  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
27 


314  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

ness,  and  that  the  primary  object  and  ulterior  design  of 
our  Federal  Government,  was  to  secure  these  rights  to  all 
persons  within  its  exclusive  jurisdiction.  That  as  our 
Republican  Fathers,  when  they  had  abolished  slavery  in 
all  our  National  Territories,  ordained  that  no  person  shall 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  pro- 
cess of  law,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  maintain  this  provision 
in  the  Constitution  against  all  attempts  to  violate  it,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  slavery  in  the  United  States, 
by  positive  legislation,  prohibiting  its  existence  or  exten- 
sion therein.  That  we  deny  the  authority  of  Congress, 
of  a  Territorial  Legislature,  of  any  individual  or  associa- 
tion of  individuals,  to  give  legal  assistance  to  slavery  in 
any  Territory  of  the  United  States,  while  the  present 
Constitution  shall  be  maintained. 

Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress 
sovereign  power  over  the  Territories  of  the  United  States 
for  their  government,  and  that  in  the  exercise  of  this 
power  it  is  both  the  right  and  duty  of  Congress  to  pro- 
hibit in  the  Territories  those  twin  relics  of  barbarism, 
polygamy  and  slavery. 

Resolved,  That  while  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  ordained  and  established  by  the  people  in 
order  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union,  establish  justice, 
insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common 
defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty,  and  contains  ample  provisions  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  life,  liberty  and  property  of  every  citizen  — 
the  dearest  Constitutional  rights  of  the  people  of  Kansas 
have  been  fraudulently  and  violently  taken  away  from 
them  ;  their  territory  been  invaded  by  an  armed  force ; 
spurious  and  pretended  legislative,  judicial  and  executive 
officers  have  been  set  over  them,  by  whose  usurped 
authority,  sustained  by  the  military  power  of  the  Govern- 
ment, tyrannical  and  unconstitutional  laws  have  been 
enacted  and  enforced ;  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  315 

bear  arms  has  been  infringed,  test  oaths  of  an  extraordi- 
nary and  entangling  nature  have  been  imposed  as  a  con- 
dition of  exercising  the  right  of  suffrage  and  holding 
office ;  the  right  of  an  accused  person  to  a  speedy  and 
public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury  has  been  denied ;  the 
right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses, 
papers  and  effects  against  unreasonable  search  and 
seizure  has  been  violated,  and  they  have  been  deprived 
of  life,  liberty,  and  property  without  due  process  of  law ; 
the  press  has  been  abridged ;  the  right  to  choose  their 
own  representative  has  been  made  of  no  effect ;  murders 
and  robberies  encouraged,  and  the  offenders  have  been 
allowed  to  go  unpunished ;  that  all  these  things  have  been 
done  with  the  knowledge,  sanction,  and  procurement  of 
the  present  administration,  and  that  for  the  high  crime 
against  the  Constitution,  the  Union,  and  humanity,  we 
arraign  the  Administration  —  the  President,  his  advisers, 
agents,  supporters,  apologists  and  accessories  —  either 
before  or  after  the  facts — before  the  country  and  before 
the  world,  and  that  it  is  our  fixed  purpose  to  bring  the 
actual  perpetrators  of  the  atrocious  outrages  and  their 
accomplices,  to  a  sure  and  condign  punishment  hereafter. 

Resolved,  That  Kansas  should  be  admitted  as  a  State 
into  the  Union,  with  her  present  Constitution,  as  at  once 
the  most  effectual  way  of  securing  to  her  citizens  the 
enjoyment  of  the  rights  and  privileges  to  which  they  are 
entitled,  and  of  ending  strife  now  raging  in  the  Territory. 

Resolved,  That  the  highwayman's  plan,  that  might 
makes  right,  embodied  in  the  Ostend  Circular,  was  in 
every  respect  unworthy  of  American  diplomacy,  would 
bring  shame  and  dishonor  upon  any  Government  or 
people  that  gave  it  their  sanction 

Resolved,  That  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  by  the 
most  central,  practicable  route,  is  imperatively  demanded 
by  the  interests  of  the  whole  country,  and  that  the  Fede- 
ral Government  ought  to  render  immediate  and  efficient 


316  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

aid  to  its  construction,  and  as  an  auxiliary  thereto  the 
immediate  construction  of  an  emigrant  road  to  the  line 
of  the  railroad. 

Resolved,  That  the  appropriations  of  Congress  for  the 
improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors  of  a  National  charac- 
ter, required  for  the  accommodation  and  security  of  our 
existing  commerce,  are  authorized  by  the  Constitution 
and  justified  by  the  obligations  of  the  Government,  to 
protect  the  lives  and  property  of  its  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  we  invite  the  affiliation  and  co-operation 
of  men  of  all  parties,  however  different  from  us  in  other 
respects,  in  supporting  the  principles  herein  declared; 
and  believing  that  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  as  well  as 
the  Constitution  of  our  country,  guarantees  to  us  liberty 
of  conscience,  and  equality  of  rights  among  the  citizens, 
we  oppose  all  legislation  impairing  their  security. 

The  great  issue  in  the  political  contest  of  1856,  is  the 
extension,  or  non -extension  of  slavery.  Banks,  Tariff, 
Public  Lands,  and  all  issues  involving  the  financial  or 
material  interests  of  the  country,  have  been  settled  in  favor 
of  the  policy  of  the  Democratic  party. 

The  Whig  party,  embracing  a  large  proportion  of  the 
intelligence,  wealth,  and  moral  influence  of  the  nation, 
have  disbanded  and  passed  away. 

A  new  party,  designated  as  the  American,  or  Know 
Nothing  party,  arose,  in  1854,  to  sudden  and  great  poli- 
tical influence,  and  its  policy  was  based  on  resistance  to 
Popery  and  the  Catholic  religion,  as  a  politico -religious 
system.  A  National  Convention  of  this  party,  met  in 
Philadelphia,  on  the  22d  of  February,  1856,  and  nomi- 
nated Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York,  for  President,  and 
Andrew  Jackson  Donnelson,  of  Tennessee,  for  Yice- 
President.  It  refused  to  take  decided  ground  against  the 
extension  of  slavery,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  Northern 
delegates  seceded.  This  purpose  to  avt>id  the  absorbing 
question  of  slavery,  lost  the  party  the  prestige  of  its 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  317 

power  in  all  the  free  States,  and  will,  most  probably,  in  a 
short  time  prove  its  political  extinction.  These  facts  in 
the  history  of  parties,  confirm  what  Daniel  Webster,  the 
great  American  Statesman,  declared  in  a  speech  made  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  in  1852.  He  said : 

"  New  parties  may  arise,  growing  out  of  new  events  and 
new  questions ;  but  as  to  these  old  parties  which  have 
sprung  from  controversies  now  no  longer  pending,  or  from 
feelings  which  time  and  other  causes  have  now  greatly 
changed  or  allayed,  I  do  not  believe  they  can  long  remain. 
Efforts,  indeed,  made  to  that  end,  with  zeal  and  persever- 
ance may  delay  their  extinction ;  but,  I  think,  can  not 
prevent  it.  There  is  nothing  to  keep  alive  these  distinc- 
tions in  the  interests  and  objects  which  now  engage 
society.  New  questions  and  objects  arise,  having  no 
connection  with  subjects  of  past  controversies ;  and  pres- 
ent interest  overcomes  and  absorbs  the  recollection  of 
former  controversies.  All  that  are  united  on  these  exist- 
ing questions  and  present  interests,  will  not  likely  weaken 
their  efforts  to  promote  them,  by  angry  reflections  on  past 
differences.  If  there  was  nothing  in  things  to  divide 
about,  I  think  the  people  not  likely  to  maintain  system- 
atic controversies  about  men.  They  have  no  interest  in 
doing  so.  Associations,  formed  to  support  principles,  may 
be  called  parties ;  but  if  they  have  no  bond  of  union  but 
adherence  to  particular  men,  they  become  factions." 

The  providence  of  God,  and  the  dominant  sentiment  of 
freedom  in  the  free  States,  produced  by  the  continual 
aggressions  of  the  slave  power,  forced  the  issue  on  the 
American  people.  The  South  admits  and  accepts  it.  It 
says  through  its  press  : 

"  It  is  vain  to  disguise  it,  the  great  issue  of  our  day  in 
this  country  is,  slavery  or  no  slavery.  The  present  phase 
of  that  issue  is  the  extension  or  non-extension  of  the  insti- 
tution, the  foundations  of  which  are  broad  and  solid  in 


318  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

our  midst.  Whatever  the  general  measure,  whatever  the 
political  combinations,  whatever  the  party  movement, 
whatever  the  action  of  sections  at  Washington,  the  one 
single,  dominant,  and  pervading  idea,  solving  all  leading 
questions,  insinuating  itself  into  every  polity,  drawing  the 
horoscopes  of  all  aspirants,  serving  as  a  lever  or  fulcrum 
for  every  interest,  class  or  individuality — a  sort  of  direct- 
ing fatality  is  that  master  issue.  As,  in  spite  of  right  and 
reason — of  organism  and  men — of  interest  and  efforts,  it 
has  become,  per  se,  political  destiny — why  not  meet  it  ? 
It  controls  the  North,  it  controls  the  South — it  precludes 
escape.  It  is  at  last  and  simply  a  question  between  the 
South  and  the  remainder  of  the  Union,  as  sections  and  as 
people.  All  efforts  to  give  it  other  divisions,  to  solve  it 
by  considerations  other  than  those  which  pertain  to  them 
in  their  local  character  and  fates,  to  divert  it,  to  confound 
it  with  objects  and  designs  of  a  general  nature,  are  ren- 
dered futile.  It  has  to  be  determined  by  these  real  par- 
ties, by  their  action  in  their  character  as  sections — 
inchoate  countries." 

This  great  issue  rises  into  unsurpassed  importance  and 
dignity,  and  the  result  decides  the  great  question,  whether 
the  American  Government  and  people  will  commit  them- 
selves, and  all  their  institutions  of  freedom,  civilization, 
and  Christianity,  to  the  mission  of  extending  slavery  over 
the  American  continent,  or  return  to  the  ancient,  and 
the  only  wise  and  safe  policy,  the  policy  of  the  statesmen 
and  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  to  restrict  and  arrest 
slavery,  and  direct  all  Constitutional  and  moral  means  for 
its  final  extinguishment — a  consummation  that  would  be 
the  crowning  glory  of  the  American  nation,  and  remove 
the  only  hindrance  to  the  perpetual  peace  and  prosperity 
of  the  country.  The  great  Eepublican  party,  inviting  all 
of  every  party,  and  receiving  its  existence  and  growth,  and 
its  present  great  and  permanent  political  influence,  from 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  319 

_ 

an  unalterable  purpose  to  arrest  the  extension  of  slavery 
over  the  broad  and  free  domain  of  the  country,  has 
intrusted  to  it  this  great  mission  of  freedom. 

Thomas  Morris,  in  this  political  and  moral  work,  was 
early  honored,  with  a  prominent  position.  His  stead- 
fastness, and  loyalty  to  freedom  and  principle,  secured, 
in  the  summer  of  1841,  his  nomination  for  Yice  Presi- 
dent, on  the  Liberty  Ticket,  formed  by  the  friends  of 
freedom,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  This  nomina- 
tion being  only  for  a  single  State,  he  suggested  through 
the  following  public  letter,  that  his  name  be  with- 
drawn, until  a  Convention  from  all  the  free  States  could 
meet  and  deliberate. 

DR.  BAILEY:  —  Domestic  affliction,  occasioned  by  the 
illness  of  a  part  of  my  family,  and  which  is  yet  contin- 
ued, has  required  my  attention  and  presence  within 
the  family  circle.  I  have  thus  been,  in  a  good  degree, 
prevented  from  noticing  the  important  events  that  are 
almost  daily  taking  place,  in  the  great  enterprise  in 
which  we  are  engaged,  by  endeavoring  to  restore  to  a 
large  portion  of  our  fellow  men,  their  lost  humanity  and 
their  rights,  of  which  they  have  been  robbed  by  sheer 
despotism.  » 

In  this  enterprise,  my  name  has  been  placed  by  my 
fellow  citizens  in  New  York  before  the  country,  in  a  very 
conspicuous  situation,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presi- 
dency of  the  United  States.  This  nomination  was  not 
only  unsought,  but  unlocked  for,  by  myself;  but  I  can 
say,  with  perfect  sincerity,  that  I  then  received  it,  and 
still  view  it  as  the  highest  honor  ever  conferred  on  me  by 
any  portion  of  my  fellow  citizens.  Was  I  desirous  of 
posthumous  fame,  (which  I  believe  all  men  are  more  or 
less)  I  had  rather  have  my  name  inscribed  upon  the  most 
obscure  record  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  in  the  present 
struggle,  than  to  be  placed  in  the  highest  seats  of  power 


320  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

in  opposition  thereto.  The  liberty  for  which  we  contend, 
is  that  which  like  the  Star  of  Hethlehem,  leads  to  the  salvation 
of  men. 

As  the  progress  of  our  cause  and  principles  have  been 
rapid  beyond  all  calculation,  (at  least  mine,)  and  as  I 
know  and  feel  that  many  men,  far  more  able  and  worthy 
than  I  am,  to  lead  in  this  noble  cause,  have  of  late  been 
added  to  our  ranks,  though  I  can  not  admit  that  any  are 
more  desirous  of  its  success  and  ultimate  triumph  than  I 
am,  yet  I  thought  it  due  to  the  cause,  and  to  the  country, 
to  afford  an  opportunity  to  all  our  friends  to  review  the 
nomination.  I,  therefore,  gave  notice  to  our  last  Liberty 
Convention,  at  Columbus,  that  it  was  my  intention  to 
decline,  and  wait  for  further  developments  in  regard  to 
duty. 

I  have,  within  a  day  or  two  past,  seen,  in  some  of  our 
Eastern  Liberty  papers,  remarks  on  the  course  I  thought 
it  my  duty  to  take.  Permit  me  to  say  to  our  friends,  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  that  no  abatement  of  my  zeal 
in  the  cause  of  human  liberty  has  taken  place  ;  and  that 
my  hopes,  and  my  expectations,  were  never  brighter  than 
they  now  are,  of  the  speedy  and  ultimate  triumph  of  our 
principles.  I  feel  a  strong  desire,  and  I  trust  some  faith, 
advanced  as  I  am  in  life,  that  I  shall  yet  be  spared  to  see 
the  day,  when  the  soil  of  our  beloved  country,  shall  no 
where  be  cursed  with  the  foot-prints  of  a  slave.  I  shall 
then  leave  the  world,  believing  I  have  left  my  posterity  a 
legacy  beyond  all  price. 

I  would  not  have  taken  the  step  which  I  have,  had  I 
not  fully  understood  that  a  General  Convention  of  liberty 
men,  from  all  the  States,  would  be  held  during  the  ensu- 
ing summer.  When  that  Convention  shall  have  met,  they 
may  dispose  of  my  name  as  they  shall  judge  best.  All  I 
ask  is,  that  the  friends  of  liberty  will  believe  me,  when  I 
assure  them,  that  I  am  engaged  in  this  cause,  under  a  full 
conviction,  that  it  is  just  and  right ;  and  that  on  its  success 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  321 

depends,  not  only  the  prosperity  but  the  salvation  of 
the  country  ;  and  no  matter  where  I  labor,  my  enlistment 
and  my  promise  of  service  are  not  for  years  but  for  life. 

I  write  this  hasty  communication  for  fear  a  wrong  con- 
struction may  be  put  upon  the  position  I  now  occupy.  I 
hope  soon,  to  find  time  to  address  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee at  New  York  on  the  subject  more  at  length. 

THOMAS  MORRIS. 

Cincinnati,  March  2Qth,  1843. 

He  was  renominated  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice  Presi- 
dency on  the  Liberty  ticket,  by  the  General  Convention  at 
Buffalo,  August  30th,  1843. 

Ohio  met  in  Convention,  at  the  Capitol  of  the  State, 
in  October  succeeding  the  National  Convention,  to  ratify 
the  nominations.  After  presenting  the  claims  and  services 
of  James  Gr.  Birney,  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
the  Address  of  the  Liberty  Convention  to  the  people  of 
Ohio,  says  of  the  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency : 

"  Thomas  Morris,  our  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, is  one  of  the  oldest  citizens  of  this  State.  "Whether 
as  Kepresentative  in  your  State  Legislature,  or  Senator 
in  Congress,  he  has  ever  been  known  as  the  fearless, 
independent,  consistent  politician.  That  most  eloquent 
speech,  delivered  by  him  in  1839,  amid  the  sneers  and 
frowns  of  servile  and  slaveholding  Senators ;  in  defense 
of  human  liberty,  and  in  vindication  of  its  advocates 
against  the  assaults  of  him,  who  is  now  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  Whig  party  ;  delivered  too,  without  a  word 
of  encouragement  from  those  whose  principles  and 
characters  he  vindicated ;  in  the  face  of  the  policy  of 
his  own  party,  and  with  the  certain  prospect  of  losing 
its  favor ;  that  speech,  and  the  heroic  love  of  liberty  it 
evinced,  have  endeared  him  FOREVER  to  the  friends  of 


322  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

freedom.  Ohio  will  remember  hereafter,  with  delight,  that 
the  only  voice  which  broke  the  stillness  of  the  Senate 
Chamber  of  the  United  States,  for  fifteen  long  years,  in 
rebuke  of  despotism,  was  the  voice  of  her  undaunted  son, 
Thomas  Morris." 

Western  Virginia,  whence  Thomas  Morris  had  emi- 
grated in  1795,  had  a  Spartan  band  who  held  to  the 
ancient  liberty  doctrines  of  Jefferson,  and  one  county 
(Ohio),  had  in  1843,  a  Liberty  ticket,  and  issued  an 
Address,  in  which  they  speak  of  Thomas  Morris  as 
follows : 

"  They  have  selected,  as  their  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  Thomas  Morris,  of  Ohio,  a  native  of  Western 
Virginia,  who  has  been  from  his  boyhood  a  consistent 
advocate  of  equal  rights.  This  distinguished  citizen, 
when  a  few  years  since,  he  represented  the  State  of  his 
adoption,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  stood  up 
alone  in  that  Body,  uncheered  by  the  sympathies  of 
political  associates,  and  unsupported  except  by  a  noble 
confidence  in  the  justness  of  his  cause,  to  vindicate  the 
principles  of  liberty,  against  the  assaults  of  Henry  Clay, 
who  then  stood  as  the  champion  of  perpetual  slavery. 
By  that  most  signal  service  to  the  cause  of  the  people, 
Thomas  Morris  forfeited  the  support  of  party,  but  endeared 
himself  forever  to  the  lovers  of  liberty" 

The  following  votes  for  the  candidates  representing  the 
sentiment  of  freedom,  will  show  the  progress  of  the 
party  devoted  to  freedom  and  the  American  Nation  : 

In  1840,  seven  thousand ;  in  1844,  sixty-two  thousand 
one  hundred  and  sixty-three ;  in  1848,  two  hundred  and 
ninety-one  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight; 
in  1852,  one  hundred  and  fifty -five  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  forty-nine ;  and  in  1856,  the  date  of  the  present 


LIFE   OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  323 

writing,  the  free  States  are  anxiously  waiting  to  cast  their 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  votes  for  the  Eepublican  candi- 
dates, and  confidently  expect  to  carry  the  country  in  favor 
of  freedom. 

"Who  can  tell  how  vast  the  plan 
Which  this  day's  incident  began? 
And  it  may  prove,  when  understood, 
The  harbinger  of  endless  good." 


324  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

TERRITORIAL  Expansion  of  Slavery — Missouri  Compromise — Her  Admis- 
sion— Agitation — Sentiments  of  Daniel  Webster  on  the  Admission  of 
Missouri — Admission  of  Arkansas — Remarks  of  Mr.  Morris,  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  Admission  of  Arkansas — Republic  of  Texas — Remarks 
and  Resolution  of  Mr.  Morris  on  Texas — Acquisition  of  Territory  from 
Mexico— California — Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise — Agitation 
through  the  country — Manifesto  of  Chase  and  others  —  Ministers 
Remonstrate  —  The  act  done  —  New  Territory  opened  to  Slavery — 
Kansas — Its  Slave  Laws — Struggle  between  Freedom  and  Slavery — 
Results  of  the  Expansion  of  Slave  Territory — Shall  Kansas  be  Free  or 
not? — Its  effects  on  Labor — Opinions  of  Slaveholders  on  Labor — Its 
effects  on  Society  and  on  White  Laborers — Slavery  Demonstrated  to  be 
a  Curse. 

THE  expansion  of  the  area  of  slavery  has  ever  been  a  lead- 
ing purpose  with  Southern  Statesmen.  The  great  motive 
was  the  increase  of  their  political  power,  and  its  perman- 
ent supremacy  in  the  Government  of  the  Nation.  Every 
new  State  added  to  the  Union,  not  only  aided  in  the  pre- 
servation of  a  political  equilibrium  between  the  free  and 
slave  States,  but  continued  to  the  slave  power,  its  political 
ascendency.  The  Constitution  provides  that  the  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  shall  be  proportioned  to 
the  free  inhabitants  of  the  States  they  represent,  except 
that  in  each  State,  three-fifths  of  the  slave  population, 
shall  be  for  this  purpose  considered  as  free  inhabitants. 
According  to  this  proviso,  every  five  slaves  are  to  be 
counted  as  three  white  persons.  If  by  law,  every  sixty 
thousand  free  inhabitants  may  elect  a  Representative,  a 
district  containing  forty -five  thousand  whites  and  twenty- 


LIFE     OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  325 

five  thousand  slaves,  is  by  the  Federal  ratio  entitled  to  a 
member.  This  Constitutional  stipulation,  has  through  all 
the  political  history  of  the  American  Government,  given 
the  slaveholders  a  prepondering  weight  in  the  National 
Councils.  Hence  the  fact,  and  it  is  a  political  anomaly, 
that  at  the  present  time,  the  slaveholding  interest,  has  a 
representation  of  thirty  members  in  addition  to  the  equal 
representation  of  the  free  inhabitants.  This  is  a  property 
Eepresentation — for  slaves  in  the  South  are  but  property 
in  the  eye  of  the  law — which  is  denied  to  every  species  of 
property  in  the  free  States;  and  this  fundamental  law 
of  the  Government  operates  unequally. 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  there  is  an  equality 
of  political  power  in  the  States,  each  State,  however  small 
or  great,  being  entitled  to  two  Senators  in  Congress,  so 
that,  a  small  slave  State,  like  Delaware,  has,  in  the 
Senate,  a  political  power  equal  to  the  great  State  of 
New  York,  with  her  immense  population  and  wealth. 
The  preservation  and  the  increase  of  this  power  in  the 
Government,  has  been,  and  is  now,  the  great  motive  that 
prompts  the  South  to  seek  the  extension  of  slavery.  A 
brief  historical  expose  of  this  extension  is  here  presented. 

The  first  efforts,  subsequent  to  the  purchase  of  Louis- 
iana in  1803,  from  France,  under  the  Administration  of 
President  Jefferson,  made  by  the  slave  power,  to  extend 
slavery,  was  in  the  case  of  Missouri.  In  1820,  Missouri 
sought  admission  into  the  Union,  as  an  independent  State. 
Her  Constitution  admitted  the  existence  and  perpetuity 
of  slavery ;  and  when  she  came  to  ask  for  admission  as  a 
new  State,  into  the  Union,  it  was  earnestly  resisted  by 
the  free  States,  both  by  the  people  and  their  Representa- 
tives in  Congress.  It  was  a  most  memorable  struggle 
between  freedom  and  slavery,  and  agitated  the  whole 
country  profoundly.  After  a  postponement  of  a  year, 
Missouri  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  on  condition  that, 
"  In  all  that  Territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United 


326  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MOERI8. 

States,  under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  North 
of  thirty-six  degrees,  and  thirty  minutes  of  North  Lati- 
tude, not  included  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
slavery  and  involuntary  servitude  shall  be  and  is  hereby  forever 
prohibited."  The  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State, 
under  this  compromise,  was  the  first  great  expansion  of 
the  slave  power.  President  Monroe,  before  he  signed  the 
Missouri  Act,  of  1820,  required  a  written  opinion  of  each 
member  of  his  Cabinet,  as  to  the  proposition  whether  "  Con- 
gress has  a  right,  under  the  powers  vested  in  it  by  the 
Constitution,  to  make  a  regulation  prohibiting  slavery  in 
a  Territory."  All  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  including 
John  C.  Calhoun,  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  answered  in 
the  affirmative. 

Daniel  "Webster,  in  1819,  drew  up  an  able  memorial 
against  the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State,  which 
he,  and  others  of  Boston,  signed  and  sent  to  Congress,  and 
from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 

"  Your  memorialists  would  most  respectfully  submit  that 
the  terms  of  the  Constitution,  as  well  as  the  practice  of  the 
Government  under  it,  must,  as  they  humbly  conceive, 
entirely  justify  the  conclusion,  that  Congress  may  pro- 
hibit the  farther  introduction  of  slavery,  into  its  own 
Territories,  and  also  make  such  provision  a  condition  of 
the  admission  of  any  new  State  into  the  Union.  We 
have  a  strong  feeling  of  the  injustice  of  any  toleration  of 
slavery.  But  to  permit  it  in  a  new  country,  where  yet  no 
habits  are  formed  to  render  it  indispensable,  what  is  it, 
but  to  encourage  that  rapacity  and  fraud,  and  violence, 
against  which  we  have  so  long  pointed  the  denunciations 
of  our  penal  code  ?  What  is  it  but  to  tarnish  the  proud 
fame  of  the  country  ?  What  is  it  but  to  throw  suspicion 
on  its  good  faith,  and  to  render  questionable  all  its  pro- 
fessions of  regard  for  the  rights  of  humanity  and  the 
liberties  of  mankind.  If  the  extensive  and  fertile  fields 
of  the  Missouri  Territory  shall  be  opened  as  a  market  for 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  327 

slaves,  the  Government  will  seem  to  become  a  party  to  a 
traffic,  which,  in  so  many  acts,  through  so  many  years,  it 
has  denounced  as  impolitic,  unchristian,  and  inhuman." 

Arkansas,  in  1836,  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  with 
a  Constitution  making  slavery  perpetual.  Mr.  Morris, 
was  then  called  upon  as  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  to 
vote  on  the  question  of  the  admission  of  another  slave  State. 
His  views  are  presented  in  extracts  from  his  speech  found 
in  Benton's  "  Thirty  Years  in  the  United  States  Senate," 
"  Mr.  Morris,"  said  Mr.  Benton,  "spoke  more  freely  on  the 
objectional  points  than  other  Senators.  He  said  : 

"  Before  I  record  my  vote  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the 
Bill  under  consideration,  I  must  ask  the  indulgence  of 
the  Senate  for  a  moment,  while  I  offer  a  few  of  the  reasons 
which  govern  me  in  the  vote  I  shall  give.  Being  one  of 
the  Representatives  of  a  free  State,  and  believing  slavery 
to  be  wrong  in  principle,  and  mischievous  in  practice,  I 
wish  to  be  clearly  understood  on  the  subject,  both  here, 
and  by  those  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  I  have 
objections  to  the  Constitution  of  Arkansas,  on  the  ground 
that  slavery  is  recognized  in  that  Constitution,  and  settled 
and  established  as  a  fundamental  principle  in  her  govern- 
ment. I  object  to  the  existence  of  this  principle  forming 
a  part  of  the  organic  law  of  any  State  ;  and  I  would  vote 
against  the  admission  of  Arkansas,  if  I  believed  I  had 
power  to  do  so.  The  wrong,  in  a  moral  sense,  with  which 
I  view  slavery,  would  be  sufficient  for  me  to  do  this,  did 
I  not  consider  my  political  obligations,  and  the  duty,  as  a 
member  of  this  body,  under  which  I  now  act,  clearly 
require  of  me  this  vote. 

"  I  hold  that  any  portion  of  American  citizens,  who  may 
reside  on  any  part  of  the  Territory  of  the  United  States, 
whenever  their  number  shall  amount  to  that  which  would 
entitle  them  to  a  representation  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  Congress,  have  a  right  to  provide  for  them- 
selves a  Constitution  and  State  Government,  and  to  bo 


328  LIFE     OP    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

admitted  into  the  Union  whenever  they  shall  so  apply  ; 
and  they  are  not  bound  to  wait  the  action  of  Congress  in 
the  first  instance,  except  there,  is  some  compact  or  agree- 
ment requiring  them  to  do  so.  I  place  this  right  upon  the 
broad,  and  as  I  think,  indisputable  ground,  that  all  per- 
sons living  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States, 
are  entitled  to  equal  privileges;  and  it  ought  to  be  a 
matter  of  high  gratification  to  us  here,  that  in  every  posi- 
tion, even  the  most  remote  of  our  country,  our  people 
are  anxious  to  obtain  this  high  privilege  at  as  early 
a  day  as  possible.  It  furnishes  clear  proof  that  the 
Union  is  highly  esteemed,  and  has  its  foundation  deep  in 
the  hearts  of  our  fellow  citizens. 

"  By  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  power  is 
given  to  Congress  to  admit  new  States  into  the  Union. 
It  is  in  the  character  of  a  State  that  any  portion  of  our 
citizens  must  apply  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union ;  a 
State  Constitution  and  Government  must  be  first  formed. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  the  power  of  Congress,  and  I  doubt 
whether  Congress  has  such  power,  to  prescribe  the  mode 
by  which  the  people  shall  form  a  State  Constitution  ;  and 
for  this  plain  reason,  that  Congress  would  be  entirely 
incompetent  to  ths  exercise  of  any  coersive  power  to 
carry  into  effect  the  mode  they  might  prescribe.  I  can  not 
therefore,  vote  against  the  admission  of  Arkansas  into 
the  Union,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  previous  act 
of  Congress  to  authorize  the  holding  of  her  Convention. 
As  a  member  of  Congress  I  will  not  look  beyond  the 
Constitution  that  has  been  presented.  I  have  no  right  to 
presume  it  was  formed  by  incompetent  persons,  or  that  it 
does  not  fully  express  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the 
people  of  that  country.  It  is  true  that  the  United  States 
shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  the  Union  a  Eepublican 
form  of  Government:  meaning,  in  my  judgment,  that 
Congress  shall  not  permit  any  power  to  establish  in  any 
State,  a  Government  without  the  assent  of  the  people  of 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  329 

such  State ;  and  it  will  not  be  amiss  that  we  remember 
here,  also,  that  that  guarantee  is  to  the  State,  and  not  as 
to  the  formation  of  the  Government  by  the  people  of  the 
State ;  but,  should  it  be  admitted  that  Congress  can  look 
into  the  Constitution  of  a  State,  in  order  to  ascertain  its 
character,  before  such  State  is  admitted  into  the  Union, 
yet  I  contend  that  Congress  can  not  object  to  it  for  the 
want  of  a  Eepublican  form,  if  it  contains  the  great  princi- 
ple that  all  power  is  inherent  in  the  people,  and  that  the 
Government  draws  all  its  just  powers  from  the  governed. 

"  The  people  of  the  Territory  of  Arkansas,  having 
formed  for  themselves  a  State  Government,  having  pre- 
sented their  Constitution  for  admission  into  the  Union, 
and  that  Constitution  being  Republican  in  its  form ;  and 
believing  that  the  people  who  prepared  and  sent  this 
Constitution,  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  entitle  them  to 
a  Representative  in  Congress;  and  believing,  also,  that 
Congress  has  no  right  or  power  to  regulate  the  system  of 
police  these  people  have  established  for  themselves,  and 
the  Ordinance  of  1787  not  operating  on  them,  nor  have 
they  entered  into  any  agreement  with  the  United  States 
that  Slavery  should  not  be  admitted  into  the  State— have 
the  right  to  choose  this  lot  for  themselves.  Though  I  regret 
that  they  have  made  this  choice,  yet  believing  that  this 
Government  has  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  question  of 
slavery  in  any  of  the  States,  or  prescribe  what  shall  or 
shall  not  be  considered  property  in  the  different  States,  or 
by  what  tenure  property  of  any  kind  shall  be  holden,  but 
that  all  these  are  questions  of  State  policy,  I  can  not,  as  a 
member  of  this  body,  refuse  my  vote  to  admit  this  State 
into  the  Union,  because  her  Constitution  recognizes  the 
right  and  existence  of  slavery." 

Similar  views  were  expressed  by  John  Quincy  Adams, 

in  the  -House.     He  said  :  "  I  can  not,  consistently  with  a 

sense  of  my  obligations  as  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 

and   bouad   to  support  their  Constitution,  object  to  the 

28 


330  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

admission  of  Arkansas  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State. 
It  is  written  in  the  bond,  and  however  I  may  lament  that 
it  ever  was  so  written,  I  must  faithfully  perform  its 
obligations." 

The  next  successful  movement  of  the  extension,  of  the 
slave  power,  was  the  admission  of  the  Republic  of  Texas, 
on  the  29th  of  December,  1845.  , 

Mr.  Morris  foresaw,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
that  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas  had  an 
ulterior  object  in  reference  to  slavery.  He  said,  in  1836, 
after  presenting  memorials  from  Cincinnati,  requesting 
Congress  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  Texas,  and 
in  answer  to  a  Southern  Senator,  Mr.  Walker,  that  "  The 
recognition  of  Texas  involved  a  question  which  did  not  meet 
the  eye,  and  which  was  beyond  the  mere  recognition  of  her 
independence — a  question  which  would  convulse  this  Union 
from  one  end  to  the  other."  That  prophecy  has  been  fear- 
fully fulfilled.  Since  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  Union 
has  been  in  a  state  of  intense  excitement,  almost  of  con- 
tinued convulsion.  That  event  led  to  a  war  with  Mexico, 
and  the  war  with  Mexico  resulted  in  a  cession  to  the 
United  States  of  New  Mexico  and  California. 

Mr.  Morris  offered  for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate, 
the  following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  while  we  hail  with  joy  the  events  in 
Texas,  which  seem  to  look  to  an  emancipation  in  that 
country,  we  fear  there  is  increased  reason  for  believing 
that  a  desperate  effort  will  soon  be  made  by  the  slave 
power  to  annex  Texas  to  this  Union,  and  we  therefore 
earnestly  implore  our  fellow-citizens  of  every  party  to 
use  all  lawful  endeavors  to  avert  such  a  calamity." 

In  1854,  another  wide  field  was  opened,  into  which  the 
slave  power  might  extend  its  dominion.  The  Missouri 
Compromise  Act  was  canonized  by  a  sacred  compact,  and 
by  all  the  forms  and  sanctions  of  solemn  legislation,  and 
was  regarded  with  the  strongest  affection  by  the  American 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  331 

people,  both  North  and  South.  This,  however,  was  not 
sufficient  to  guard  it  against  the  covetousness  and  the 
aggressions  of  slavery.  It  was  a  restraint,  a  prohibition 
to  the  expansion  of  slavery,  which  could  no  longer  be 
tolerated.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
deliberately  meditated,  and  deliberately  done.  In  the 
month  of  March,  1854,  the  Senate,  by  a  large  majority,  con- 
summated its  repeal,  and  the  House,  by  a  decisive  majority 
concurred,  and  the  approval  of  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  Mr.  Pierce,  completed  its  legal  repeal.  It 
opened  an  immense  territory,  a  territory  that  had  been 
for  a  generation  consecrated  to  freedom,  and  ample  enough 
to  form  twelve  States  as  large  as  the  great  State  of  Ohio, 
to  the  evil  inroads  of  slavery.  The  repealing  clause  of 
the  Bill,  designated  as  the  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Bill, 
declared  the  prohibition  of  slavery  over  those  broad  and 
fertile  regions  "  inoperative  and  void." 

Mrr  Chase,  then  a  Senator  from  Ohio,  with  other  Sena- 
tors and  Eepresentatives  from  free  States,  issued  from  the 
Capital  of  the  Nation,  a  Manifesto  to  the  people,  warning 
them  of  the  purpose  of  the  slave  power,  and  the  peril  of 
freedom.  The  public  sentiment  of  the  North  was  roused 
to  active  resistance,  and  numerous  and  large  public  meet- 
ings were  held,  to  remonstrate  against  the  measure,  and 
to  protest  against  the  great  wrong. 

The  religious  sensibilities  and  conscience  of  all  Chris- 
tian denominations,  were  awakened  into  intense  activity. 
The  pulpit  of  the  free  States,  as  in  Revolutionary  times, 
vindicated  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  denounced  the 
measure  as  a  wrong  to  Christianity,  to  humanity,  and  to 
the  plighted  faith  and  integrity  of  the  nation.  Three 
thousand  clergymen  of  New  England,  representing  the 
sentiments  of  their  respective  congregations,  with  their 
names  on  one  large  memorial,  sent  up  their  petitions  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  against  the  act  of  repeal, 
doc-luring  that  it  was  "  a  great  moral  wrong,  a  breach  of 


332  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

faith,  and  eminently  injurious  to  the  morals  of  the  com- 
munity, and  calculated  to  bring  down  upon  the  nation 
the  curse  of  God."  Clergymen  in  almost  all  the  free 
States,  sent  to  both  branches  of  the  National  Legislature, 
similar  remonstrances.  Senators  from  the  free  and  slave 
States,  charged  all  such  clergymen  with  "  prostituting  the 
sacred  desk  to  the  miserable  and  corrupting  influences  of ' 
party  politics ; "  of  "  neglecting  their  holy  religion,  and 
violating  its  principles  ; "  "  as  political  preachers,  med- 
dling with  matters  of  which  they  were  ignorant."  Slavery, 
through  the  subserviency  of  Northern  Congressmen, 
obtained  the  triumph,  and  the  gate  was  opened  for  its 
entrance. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  converted 
Kansas  into  a  field  of  contest  between  slavery  and  free- 
dom ;  into  a  trial  of  the  nature  and  forces  of  the  two 
opposite  systems.  In  this  great  contest,  on  which  the 
entire  nation  looked  with  deep  sympathy  and  attention, 
freedom,  as  it  had  always  done,  outrivaled  the  efforts  of 
slavery — in  enterprise,  in  numbers,  in  all  the  institutions 
of  a  Christian  civilization ;  and  Kansas  gave  promise  that 
freedom  and  its  blessings  should  yet  be  the  rich  inherit- 
ance of  the  millions  who  were  to  live  upon  her  soil. 

The  time  came  for  the  Territory  to  assume  an  organized 
form  of  civil  government.  In  the  election  of  members  to 
the  Territorial  Convention  to  form  a  Constitution,  the 
settlers  from  the  free  States  were  driven  from  the  polls, 
by  several  thousand  men  from  Missouri,  and  no  man  was 
permitted  to  cast  his  suffrage,  unless  he  would  vote  for 
making  Kansas  a  slave  Territory  and  State.  The  Con- 
vention elected  were  all,  but  one  or  two,  pro-slavery  men ; 
notwithstanding  the  free  State  voters  —  the  actual  citi- 
zens of  the  Territory — outnumbered  the  pro-slavery  men 
five-fold. 

This  Convention,  elected  by  Missourians,  passed  a  Code 
of  laws,  marked  by  the  greatest  injustice  and  cruelty,  and 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  333 

which  were  (in  Congress  and  throughout  the  country), 
denounced  as  a  disgrace  to  the  age.  They  enacted  that : 

"  Every  person  who  should  write,  print,  or  publish  any 
book,  paper,  argument,  opinion,  advice,  or  in  words,  cal- 
culated to  produce  disaffection  among  the  slaves  in  the 
Territory,  or  induce  them  to  escape  from  their  masters, 
should  be  deemed  guilty  of  FELONY,  and  be  punished  by 
imprisonment  at  hard  labor,  for  a  term  not  less  than  five 
years ;  and  if  he  should  publish  anything  even  denying 
the  right  of  persons  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory,  he 
should  be  punished  by  imprisonment  at  hard  labor  for 
two  years."  It  was  also  enacted,  that  — "  Every  person 
who  should  raise  an  insurrection  among  the  Negroes ; 
who  should  aid  in  enticing  away  a  slave,  with  intent  to 
procure  his  freedom  j  or  who  should  aid  in  enticing  away 
a  slave ;  or  who  should  entice  and  bring  from  any  other 
State  in  the  Union,  a  slave  into  Kansas,  with  the  intent 
to  set  him  free,  upon  conviction  should  suffer  DEATH." 
These  and  similar  acts  were  passed  by  the  Territorial 
Legislature  of  Kansas. 

Freedom,  however,  did  not  yield  the  contest.  The 
interests  and  issues  were  too  great  to  be  lost,  without  an 
earnest  and  laborious  struggle.  The  free  and  actual 
citizens  of  the  Territory  held  their  own  election,  and  sent 
members  to  another  Convention,  to  form  a  free  Constitu- 
tion, and  organize  a  free  Government.  Under  this  State 
Constitution,  they  organized  and  came  before  Congress 
asking  admission  into  the  Union.  The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, by  a  majority  of  three,  accepted  of  the  Consti- 
tution, and  voted  to  admit  Kansas  as  an  independent 
State;  the  Senate,  however,  rejected  it,  by  a  large 
majority. 

This  contest  in  Kansas,  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
was  marked  by  the  most  inhuman  atrocities  against  the 
free  settlers.  They  were  invaded  by  armies  from  Mis- 
souri, and  South  Carolina:  their  towns  were  burned; 


334  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

their  houses  plundered,  and  their  property  destroyed ; 
their  printing-presses  demolished  ;  their  free  citizens,  for 
defending  freedom  and  establishing  free  institutions,  were 
imprisoned  and  murdered  ;  and  almost  every  act  of  injus- 
tice and  inhumanity  was  perpetrated.  In  this  great  con- 
test the  free  State  men  stood  firm,  and  acted  and  said  — 
u  Give  us  liberty  or  death ;"  and  the  free  women  of  Kan- 
sas, like  their  mothers  of  Kevolutionary  memory,  rallied 
with  their  husbands  and  sons,  to  the  defense  of  freedom, 
and  laid  their  offerings  and  themselves  upon  the  altar  of 
liberty. 

The  struggle  is  still  in  progress,  and  the  issue  is  with 
Him  who  ruleth  among  the  nations ;  and  who  created, 
not  only  all  men  to  be  free,  but  gave  the  earth,  as  a  rich 
patrimony  to  men,  to  be  cultivated  as  a  free  soil,  and  by 
free  labor.  Of  Kansas,  let  every  freeman  ask,  in  the 
words  of  a  poet. 

Shall  the  free  winds,  that  sweep  her  grassy  vales 

Be  burdened  with  the  groan  of  sad  despair  ? 

Shall  the  free  waves,  that  wash  her  fertile  shores 

Blush  with  the  blood  that  runs  from  furrowed  backs  ? 

Shall  her  tall  mountains,  crowned  with  sparkling  snow, 

Become  red  altars  for  the  slaughtered  slave  ? 

Shall  her  green  valleys  be  the  early  grave 

Of  Freedom,  or  the  cradle  of  the  Free  ? 

Shall  her  broad  rivers,  rolling  to  the  deep, 

Shout  Liberty's  inspiring  song  for  aye, 

Or  slink  to  the  old  Ocean's  arm  to  hide 

Their  stains  behind  his  ample  cloak  of  waves  ? 

Shall  her  vast  plains  and  prairies,  filled  with  flowers 

As  glorious  night  is  filled  with  gleaming  stars, 

Be  cleared,  and  ploughed,  and  hoed,  and  reaped  by  slaves  ? 

Not  only  Christianity,  the  genius  of  our  free  institu- 
tions and  of  the  age,  but  humanity  and  the  interests  and 
dignity  of  Free  labor,  demand  that  the  soil  of  our  nation, 
every  acre  of  it,  should  be  preserved  free  from  slavery. 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  335 

Slavery  is  a  system  that  puts  dishonor  and  disgrace  on 
labor,  which  has  the  seal  of  honor  instamped  upon  it  by 
the  Creator 

The  free  States  of  the  North,  where  free  labor,  has 
wrought  out  all  their  splendid  achievements  of  enterprise, 
are  described,  by  the  Southern  press,  as  "  rioting  in  the 
excesses  of  an  indiscriminate  freedom,  prodigal  in  liberty, 
bankrupts  in  law ; — where  labor  is  elevated  to  political 
power,  and  enjoys  the  same  political  privileges  with  the 
capital  that  employs  it."  "All  society,"  says  a  Southern 
politician,  "settles  down  into  a  classification  of  capitalists 
and  laborers.  The  former  will  own  the  latter."  "  If 
laborers,"  said  Mr.  McDuffie,  "  obtain  the  political  power 
of  a  country,  it  is,  in  fact,  in  a  state  of  revolution.  The 
institution  of  slavery  supersedes  the  necessity  of  an  order 
of  nobility."  Slavery  is  by  the  South  declared  to  be  a 
"  National  blessing ;  "  "  a  Patriarchal  Institution  ; "  "  The 
corner  stone  of  our  Eepublican  Edifice."  "  In  a  few  years 
the  blasphemous  Reformers,  who  curse  the  Constitution 
for  legalizing,  and  the  Bible  for  consecrating  slavery,  will 
curse  Heaven,  that  it  did  not  bless  the  North  with  African 
slavery,  the  only  antidote  to  a  crowded,  motley,  foreign 
and  native  population." 

Slavery  is  not  only  the  antagonism  of  free  labor,  dis- 
honoring it,  and  the  free  laborers  of  the  North,  but  it  is  a 
system  that  operates  most  injuriously  and  debasingly,  upon 
the  poorer  classes  of  the  non-slaving  South.  Of  the  six 
millions  of  people  in  the  slaveholding  States,  and  of  the 
876,243  voters  in  the  same  section,  there  are  but  347,000 
slaveholders,  leaving  528,000  voters  in  the  South,  and 
more  than  five  millions  of  persons,  who  have  no  personal 
interest  or  complicity  with  slavery.  They  are  in  the 
technical  language  of  the  slave  system,  the  "  Poor  Whites 
of  the  South."  Though  not  able,  or  not  willing  to  be  the 
owners  of  slaves,  yet  this  immense  preponderating  popula- 
tion of  the  slave  States,  are  dishonored  by  the  system 


336  LIVE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

that  surrounds  them.  They  have  but  little  influence  in 
political  affairs,  and  are  so  under  the  surveillance  of  the 
slave  Aristocracy,  that  freedom  of  opinion  is  stifled,  and 
an  independent  course  of  action  prevented.  Social  as  well 
as  political  disfranchisement,  and  debasement,  is  the  con- 
dition of  this  class,  who  are  numerous  and  worthy  in  the 
South.  Schools  for  popular  education,  are  not  provided, 
and  Free  Schools,  are  unknown,  and  thus  ignorance,  the 
natural  result  of  slavery,  aids  in  the  work  of  degradation. 

The  soil  also  of  a  slave  country,  soon  becomes,  under 
the  working  of  the  slave  system,  unproductive.  In  this 
aspect  it  is  a  perfect  contrast  with  the  results  of  freedom 
and  free  labor.  Consecrate  a  soil  to  perpetual  freedom  ; 
let  the  genius  of  freedom,  breathe  its  air  of  inspiration 
and  purity  over  the  soil,  and  the  soil  under  its  power 
will  produce  an  abundant  harvest.  Freedom  will  replen- 
ish, too,  the  waste  and  worn  out  soil,  with  a  new  life 
and  a  fresh  reproductive  vitality.  Not  so  with  slavery. 

Governeur  Morris,  a  statesman  of  the  highest  order  of 
talents,  in  the  Convention  that  formed  the  Constitution, 
in  1787,  said,  "  Compare  the  free  regions  of  the  Middle 
States,  where  a  rich  and  noble  cultivation  marks  the  pros- 
perity and  happiness  of  the  people,  with  the  misery  and 
poverty  which  overspread  the  barren  wastes  of  Yirginia 
and  Maryland,  and  other  States  having  slaves.  The 
moment  you  leave  the  free  States  and  enter  the  slave 
States,  the  effects  of  the  institution  become  visible.  Every 
step  you  take  through  the  great  regions  of  slaves,  presents 
a  desert,  increasing  with  the  increasing  proportion  of  these 
wretched  beings."  This  contrast,  ages  of  experiment,  the 
whole  history  of  the  world,  and  the  philosophy  of  cause 
and  effect,  confirm ;  thus  demonstrating,  that  slavery  is  a 
curse,  blighting  and  destroying  every  true  interest  of  a 
nation,  and  ought  not  to  extend  and  establish  itself  any- 
where among  a  free  people,  or  over  a  free  soil. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  337 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

SLAVES  brought  to  Ohio — Mr.  Morris  memorializes  the  Governor  against 
it — Slaveholders  in  office  in  free  States— Mr.  Morris's  views  on  it — A 
Judge  refuses  to  license  a  colored  Clergyman  to  perform  the  Marriage 
Rite— Mr.  Morris  obtains  a  writ  to  compel  him  to  grant  it — A  memo- 
rial to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in  1844 — Extracts  from  a  Letter — 
Appeal  to  Christians — Poem,  descriptive  of  his  course  and  principles. 

THE  Constitution  of  Ohio,  and  of  all  the  free  States, 
secures  personal  freedom  to  every  slave,  voluntarily 
brought  by  his  master  within  their  jurisdiction.  The 
noble  truth,  uttered  by  Cowper,  the  Christian  poet  of 
England,  is  the  doctrine  incorporated  into  their  charters 
of  freedom : 

"Slaves  can  not  breathe  in  England;  if  their  lungs 
Receive  our  air,  that  moment  they  are  free ; 
They  touch  our  country,  and  their  shackles  fall. 
That's  noble,  and  bespeaks  a  nation  proud 
And  jealous  of  the  blessing." 

Ohio,  in  her  Constitution,  does  not  permit  slavery,  or 
the  foot-prints  of  a  slave,  to  pollute  her  soil.  Notwith- 
standing this  prohibition,  and  in  defiance  of  the  public 
sentiment  and  moral  sense  of  the  citizens  of  the  free 
States,  slaveholders,  in  their  social  visits,  or  on  their  way 
to  a  Southern  market  with  their  slaves,  have  brought  them 
into  free  States,  and  during  their  transit  or  stay,  have 
virtually  converted  free  into  slave  territory. 

The  free  States,  also,  not  unfrequently,  are  represented 
in  their  State  and  National  interests,  by  virtual  slave- 
holders. Marriage,  or  inheritance,  puts  into  their  pos- 
session, or  under  their  control,  Southern  plantations,  well 
29 


339  LIFE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS. 

stocked  with  slaves.  Interest  and  sympathy  are  then 
transferred  to  the  slave  power,  and  thus  Northern  poli- 
ticians become  the  most  subservient  and  devoted  friends 
of  the  slave  power.  A  potent  evil  influence,  from  this 
source,  has  spread  through  the  free  States,  and  tended  to 
vitiate  the  public  sentiment  of  the  North  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  In  reference  to  these  two  subjects,  connected 
with  slavery,  which  involved  the  free  States  in  indirect 
complicity  with  the  system,  Mr.  Morris  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  containing  the  fol- 
lowing sentiments : 

"  The  violation  of  our  laws  by  slaveholders  bringing, 
or  sending  their  slaves  into  our  State,  is  productive  of 
more  injury  to,  and  creates  more  disgust  and  heart- 
burnings among  our  citizens,  than  any  other  violation  of 
the  laws  known  among  us.  Ought  we  not  then  to  be 
protected  by  Executive  proclamation,  as  to  what  the  law 
is,  and  encouraged  to  carry  it  into  faithful  execution? 
Ought  not  our  people  to  be  honored  in  securing  liberty  to 
every  man  upon  whom  our  laws  confer  it,  instead  of  the 
constant  attempts  to  disgrace  them,  by  heaping  upon 
them  opprobrious  epithets,  as  "negro  thieves,"  etc.,  to 
which  the  public  press,  if  not  the  pulpit,  sometimes  basely 
descends. 

"  For  myself  I  go  for  the  law,  the  whole  law,  and  noth- 
ing but  the  law,  in  which  the  liberty  of  iny  fellow-man  is 
concerned ;  and  as  a  citizen  of  the  State  I  call  upon  its 
Executive  officer  to  do  the  same.  If  we  have  no  sympa- 
thy for  the  slave,  no  feeling  for  his  sufferings,  let  us  take 
care  that  a  power,  arising  out  of  his  condition,  does  not 
rule  and  govern  us.  To  talk  of  security  and  peace  in 
Ohio,  while  our  laws  are  trampled  under  foot  by  the  slave- 
hunter,  is  vain  and  idle.  Even  the  slave-trade  is  carried 
on  through  Ohio,  with  entire  impunity ;  coffles  of  chained 
slaves  have  landed  on  our  wharf,  while  numbers  are 
almost  daily  within  our  jurisdiction,  on  steam-boats,  on 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  339 

their  way  to  Southern  markets ;  and  yet  we  talk  about 
our  opposition  to  slavery,  while  we  permit  the  cursed 
traffic  in  slaves  thus  to  be  carried  on  in  our  midst ;  and  if 
any  of  our  citizens  shall  inform  those  slaves,  that  by  our 
laws  they  are  free,  they  are  indicted  and  found  guilty  of 
riot.  Call  you  this  a  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  ? 

"  Permit  me,  Sir,  to  suggest  to  you  the  propriety  of 
obtaining  full  and  correct  information  on  this  subject, 
and  give  to  the  General  Assembly  such  information,  and 
recommend  such  measures  to  their  consideration  as  will 
in  future  entirely  prevent  the  slave  trade  from  being 
carried  on  through  our  State.  Nothing  short  of  this  will 
preserve  the  public  quiet  among  us. 

"Another  consideration  I  beg  leave  to  mention.  Ought 
not  persons  who  own  slaves  in  another  State,  be  pro- 
hibited from  holding  any  office  in  this  State  ?  Such  per- 
sons are  inimical  to  the  principles  of  our  Government, 
and  it  is  solemn  mockery  for  them  to  take  an  oath  to  sup- 
port our  Constitution,  while  they  are  violating  its  very 
essence,  in  sight,  probably,  of  the  very  spot  where  they 
take  such  oath.  Is  not  the  legislative  power  competent 
to  prevent  this  evil,  and  cause  our  Government  to  be 
Administered  in  good  faith,  and  thus  define  our  position, 
by  which  alone  peace  and  good  will  can  be  restored 
between  us  and  our  sister  slaveholding  States?  'Let 
not  them  pass  over  to  us  for  our  hurt,  and  we  will  not 
pass  over  for  their  hurt,  and  then  there  will  be  no  strife 
between  us.'  This  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be 
wished." 

An  incident,  illustrative  of  his  sense  of  justice  as  well 
as  his  benevolence  toward  an  oppressed  people,  is  here 
recorded.  A  colored  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church,  applied  to  a  certain  Judge  of  a  Court,  in 
Brown  county,  Ohio,  having  proper  jurisdiction,  for  a 
legal  license  to  perform  the  marriage  rite.  The  prejudice 
of  the  Judge  was  so  strong  against  the  color  of  the  appii- 


340  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

cant,  that  in  the  exercise  of  his  "  little  brief  authority," 
he  peremptorily  refused  to  grant  to  the  clergyman  his 
legal  right.  Mr.  Morris,  perfectly  conscious  of  the  injus- 
tice and  illegality  of  the  act,  took  the  case  up  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  There  he  obtained  justice. 
That  Court  ordered  a  writ  of  Mandamus  to  the  lower 
Court,  to  grant  the  applicant  a  license  to  marry  those 
who  desired  his  services  in  that  way. 

The  following  memorial  was  written  in  November, 
1844,  a  short  time  previous  to  his  death.  It  was  designed 
as  a  form  for  circulation  among  all  opposed  to  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery,  and  to  the  exercise  of  its  power  in  the 
free  State  of  Ohio.  It  is  brief  and  comprehensive  : 


the  jponorabli  %  d'cnrral  Assembly  of  the  Stair  of  (Dbio. 

In  approaching  the  Legislature,  we  know  that  it  is  our  Constitu- 
tional right,  and  while  it  is  our  desire  respectfully  to  address 
the  General  Assembly,  we  hope  to  do  so  in  the  language  of 
freemen.      We  intend  to  make  Truth  our  guide,  Equity  and 
Justice  our  object,  and  the  Common  Good  our  ultimate  aim; 
and  we  ask  Legislative  action  on  the  following  subjects : 
"WE  PROTEST  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States,  as  unconstitutional,  unwise,  impolitic,  and 
dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  our  country ;  and 
we  pray  the  General  Assembly,  without  delay,  to  pass  a 
resolution   against  such   annexation,   and    transmit  the 
same  immediately  to  Congress. 

We  further  ask  the  Legislature  to  repeal  all  the  Black 
Laws  (commonly  so  called),  that  are  now  in  force  upon 
the  Statute  Book.  And  we  make  this  request,  because 
those  laws  are  of  no  benefit  to  the  white  man ;  while  they 
are  unjust  and  oppressive  to  the  black  man,  without  cause. 
"We  also  ask  the  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  use  of 
the  jails  within  this  State,  for  the  purpose  of  detaining, 
in  any  manner  whatever,  any  person  who  may  be  claimed 
as  a  fugitive  slave. 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  341 

And  we  further  ask  the  passage  of  a  law,  punishing 
under  severe  penalties,  any  officer  holding  his  office  under 
or  by  the  authority  of  this  State,  from  aiding  in  his 
official  character,  in  any  manner  or  form  whatever,  to 
return  or  send  out  of  the  State  any  person  who  may  be 
claimed  as  a  FUGITIVE  SLAVE.  And  further,  to  punish  in 
like  manner  any  citizen  of  Ohio,  or  any  person  within 
her  jurisdiction,  who  shall  aid  or  abet,  (or  who  shall 
attempt  to  do  so,)  any  other  person  to  take  or  carry  with- 
out the  State,  any  such  claimed  fugitive  slave,  except  the 
person  be  a  citizen  of  another  State,  his  agent  or  attor- 
nevj  by  whom  the  labor  or  service  of  such  fugitive 
slave  may  be  claimed,  under  the  law  of  the  State  from 
which  he  or  she  fled,  or  by  an  officer  of  the  United 
States. 

We  have  often  heard  it  said,  that  "  Ohio  is  a  free  State, 
that  slavery  does  not  exist  here,  and  that  we  ought  to  let 
slavery  alone."  That  Ohio  is  Constitutionally  a  free 
State  is  admitted ;  but  that  many  of  her  citizens  and  the 
administration  of  her  Government  is  under  the  influence 
and  control  of  the  slave  power,  is  equally  clear ;  that  her 
citizens  and  officers  ought  to  "  let  slavery  alone,"  is  not 
denied ;  but  as  this  is  not  the  case,  we  pray  the*Legisla- 
ture  to  provide  by  law  for  the  attainment  of  this  desirable 
object. 

A  distinguished  laborer  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  an 
Elder  in  one  of  the  New-School  Presbyterian  churches  of 
Ohio,  in  a  recent  letter,  says  of  Mr.  Morris : 

"My  recollections  of  him  are  very  vivid  and  very 
pleasant.  I  met  him  at  several  State  Conventions,  and 
always  listened  to  him  with  great  interest  and  profit.  In 
those  days,  when  politicians  of  all  parties  united  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  anti-slavery  movement,  it  was  as  remarkable 
as  it  was  gratifying  to  find  one  honest,  earnest,  influential 
public  man,  willing  to  lay  himself  upon  the  altar  of 


342 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


liberty ;  and  we  young  men  could  but  respect  and  revere 
him,  who  almost  alone  made  the  sacrifice. 

"  The  last  time  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  was 
at  Bloomingsburgh,  when  with  remarkable  plainness  and 
force,  he  called  on  professors  of  religion  to  wipe  out  the 
reproach  which  their  complicity  with  slavery  brings  upon 
the  cause  of  true  Christianity;  and  I  shall  never  forget 
with  what  feelings  of  pain  and  grief,  a  few  of  us  Presby- 
terians met  and  discussed,  what  we  hoped  would  prove 
the  initiatory  steps  to  a  complete  reform  in  the  New- 
School  church.  The  death  of  the  lamented  George 
Beecher,  which  occurred  soon  after,  broke  up  the  Com- 
mittee, to  whom  the  matters  had  been  referred,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  them  shape  and  direction. 

"  His  integrity  of  character,  and  devotion  to  the  great 
Democratic  principles,  are  worthy  of  all  honor,  and  are 
unlike  his  compeers,  who  recognize,  as  do  too  many 
modern  Democrats,  only  the  doctrine  as  applied  to  classes?" 

The  following  poem,  giving  a  just  description  of  his 
course  and  principles,  on  the  great  cause  of  human  rights 
and  freedom,  is  here  inserted ;  it  was  written  on  the  eve 
of  his  retirement  from  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
by  an  unknown  friend,  and  addressed  to 

THOMAS    MORRIS. 

FBEE  Senator!  accept  the  lay 

Thr>  unknown  muse  attunes  for  thee: 

Not  for  the  Talorous  display 
Of  martial  feats  and  chivalry: 

Or  for  the  blood-stained  laurels  won 
By  knightly  deeds  of  daring  done. 

Not  for  the  palm  of  high  renown, 

The  price  of  blood,  and  chains  and  tears ; 

Nor  for  the  talents  vainly  shown 
In  windy  war  with  thy  compeers; 

But  for  a  deed  more  nobly  brave  — 
The  pleading  for  the  outcast  slave. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  343 

For  this  thy  name  shall  live  in  song, 

If  song  of  mine  itself  shall  live ; 
And  living,  bear  the  meed  along 

Thy  deeds  have  earned,  and  faithful  give 
To  future  time  thy  moral  worth, 

When  cold  thy  ashes  rest  in  earth. 

And  when  thy  proud  compatriots  lie 

Forgotten,  ;neath  the  silent  sod; 
And  when  their  words  and  memory  die, 

Scathed  by  the  blighting  curse  of  God — 
Thy  deeds  shall  gain  immortal  fame, 

And  men  unborn  revere  thy  name. 

Ah!  yes,  the  ransomed  slave  shall  bless 
Thy  name,  when  thou  art  laid  at  rest, 

And  pointing  to  thy  tomb  express: 
"  There  lies  in  peaceful  slumber  blest, 

"  The  advocate  of  the  oppressed, 

"  Friend  of  the  poor  and  the  distressed." 

Intrepid  Statesman!  when  the  tongues 

Of  Northern  Senators  were  hushed, 
And  despots  triumphed  o'er  the  wrongs 

Of  minds  debased  and  spirits  crushed ; 
When  even  Webster's  spirit  quailed, 

And  firm  John  Quincy's  ardor  failed  — 

'Twas  then  thou  rose  to  breast  the  storm, 

And  throw  thyself  as  in  the  breach  — 
To  raise  the  captives  bleeding  form, 

And  with  undaunted  manly  speech, 
To  show  his  wrongs  —  the  sighs  and  tears 

That  preyed  upon  his  soul  for  years. 


344  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Thou  spake,  and  on  the  opppressor  flung 

The  burden  of  thy  strong  rebuke, 
Who  quite  alarmed  and  conscience  stung, 

With  rage  and  consternation  shook ; 
And  haughty  Southrons,  awe-struck  hung 

Upon  the  thunders  of  thy  tongue. 

. 
Firm  and  erect  thou  stood'st  alone, 

And  slavery's  haughty  champions  met; 
Not  the  stern  brow  of  fierce  Calhoun, 

Nor  ration's  gag,  nor  Preston's  threat, 
Thy  dauntless  spirit  could  dismay — 

Thou  fear'dest  not  the  face  of  Clay. 
• 

Let  fiery  Rhett  and  Campbell  roar, 
And  woman's  weak  petition  spurn  — 

Let  Waddy  Thompson — slavery's  slave  — 
With  fury  rage  and  anger  burn  — 

Let  Pinkney,  Wise,  and  At  her  ton 
Reap  all  the  fame  their  deeds  have  won. 

But  thou  shalt  gain  immortal  praise, 
Thy  country's  blessing  rests  on  thee; 

The  bondman  freed  his  voice  shall  raise, 
And  link  thy  name  with  Liberty: — 

For  lo!  thy  monuments  shall  be 
Raised  in  the  hearts  of  slaves  made  free. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  345 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

MISCELLANEOUS  reflections  during  his  Senatorial  term — Calls  on  the 
President — The  President's  Levee — Bank  Excitement — Removal  of 
Deposits — Violence  of  Party  Spirit — McDuffie's  Oratory — Funerals  of 
Members  of  Congress — Their  pageantry  and  expense — Departure  of 
the  Government  from  Republican  simplicity — Letter  Writers  at  Wash- 
ington, etc. 

IN  this  chapter  the  reader  will  find  various  extracts 
from  letters  written  by  Mr.  Morris,  to  his  eldest  son,  in  a 
free  and  familiar  manner.  They  are  interesting  as  reflec- 
tions on  the  political  condition  and  parties  of  the  country  ; 
and  as  the  opinions  of  an  observing  man,  himself  a  vete- 
ran politician  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived. 


WASHINGTON,  November  30, 1833. 

YESTERDAY  spent  most  of  the  time  in  visiting  the 
President  and  Heads  of  Departments,  according  to  the 
etiquette  of  this  city.  I  found  the  President  (Gen.  Jack- 
son), a  man  less  in  stature  than  I  expected.  The  constant 
crowd  around  him  would  not  permit  any  one  to  stay  but 
a  few  minutes.  A  tedious  and  stormy  session  is  expected, 
and  party  lines  are  to  be  more  distinctly  drawn  here,  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  than  in  Ohio.  It  is  said  that  more 
members  have  brought  with  them  their  ladies,  than  was 
ever  known  before.  This,  to  my  mind,  shows  they  expect 
a  long  session. 

The  Capitol  is,  I  presume,  one  of  the  most  extravagant 
buildings  for  the  same  purpose  in  the  world,  though  both 


346  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  House  and  Senate  Chamber  are  small,  and  to  my 
mind,  not  very  convenient.  I  have  taken  a  seat  next  to 
Mr.  Calhoun,  between  him  and  Mr.  Mangum.  You  see  I 
am  in  the  midst  of  the  Nullifiers.  Col.  Benton  is  upon 
the  same  tier ;  as  is  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
chamber ;  but  though  surrounded  by  these  great  men,  I 
trust  I  shall  be  able  to  think  and  act  for  myself.  I  shall, 
I  trust,  not  give  a  single  vote,  or  do  a  single  act,  I  thought 
was  not  right,  before  I  left  Ohio. 


DECEMBER  2, 1833. 

Both  Houses  this  day,  at  12  o'clock,  formed  a  quorum. 
In  the  Senate  a  question  arose  on  the  Ehode  Island  case, 
which  caused  considerable  debate,  and  what  I  suppose  is 
very  unusual  on  the  first  day,  the  yeas  and  nays  were 
taken. 

When  the  certificates  of  the  new  members  were  pre- 
sented, Judge  White,  the  President  pro  tempore,  called  on 
them  to  take  their  oath ;  as  we  were  walking  from  our 
seats  to  the  chair,  Mr.  Clay  rose  and  remarked,  that  there 
was  another  member,  whose  name  had  not  been  called. 
Judge  White  remarked  he  was  aware  of  that  fact,  but  he 
thought  as  the  two  members  from  Ehode  Island  were  both 
present,  the  action  of  the  Senate  was  necessary  to  give 
either  a  seat.  So  soon  as  we  had  retired  from  the  chair, 
Mr.  Poindexter  moved,  that  Mr.  Bobbins,  who  was  the 
first  elected,  be  permitted  to  take  the  oath.  This  motion 
brought  on  considerable  debate,  in  which  Mr.  Poindexter, 
King,  of  Alabama,  Clay,  Kane,  Wright,  Benton,  Cham- 
bers, Ewing,  and  Mangum,  took  part.  It  appeared  that 
Mr.  Bobbins  had  been  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  Bhode 
Island,  in  January  last,  and  had  obtained  the  usual  cer- 
tificate. In  October  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  declar- 
ing the  election  of  Bobbins  void,  and  proceeded  to  elect 
Mr.  Potter.  Under  these  circumstances  the  question  was 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  347 

whether  either  should  be  admitted  to  a  seat,  until  the 
subject  was  examined  by  a  committee,  and  we  had  all  the 
facts  officially  before  us. 

I  was  much  disappointed  at  the  debate  I  heard.  It  was 
certainly  much  less  dignified  and  orderly  than  I  expected, 
and  if  I  should  say  far  less  wise  and  forcible,  I  should  say 
the  truth.  There  was  too  much  of  the  small  arts  of  the 
County  Court  Lawyer  in  it.  I  know  I  have  heard 
stronger  and  more  orderly  debates  in  the  Ohio  Senate 
than  I  heard  to-day.  The  disorder  of  the  Senate  during 
the  debate  was  surprising ;  Mr.  Bent  on  remarked,  unusual. 


DECEMBER  17th,  1833. 

Yesterday,  the  Vice-President  (Mr.  Van  Buren)  took 
his  seat  in  the  Senate.  You  will  see  his  Address  delivered 
on  the  occasion,  in  the  papers ;  it  was  handsomely  done. 
He  is  rather  rapid  in  the  dispatch  of  business,  but  will,  I 
think,  preside  with  dignity.  He  is  a  fine,  erect  man  in 
his  gait,  and  is,  I  should  think,  about  fifty -five  years  old. 
With  all  the  hue  and  cry  against  him,  I  have  no  doubt  he 
will  be  the  next  President.  A  majority  of  the  Senate  are 
decidedly  oppositionists,  and  they  have  appointed  all  the 
Committees,  bearing  the  same  complexion.  There  has 
been  some  speculation  here,  that  Mr.  Webster  is  about  to 
leave  Mr.  Clay,  and  join  the  Administration.  I  am  half 
inclined  to  think  so  myself;  but  it  will  be  done  by  degrees, 
and  this  session,  I  think,  you  may  look  for  him  between 
the  parties.  It  is  idle  to  talk  of  party  spirit,  in  the  Ohio 
Legislature,  when  compared  with  the  feeling  of  the  oppo- 
sition here;  but  they  are  entirely  overpowered  in  the 
House. 

I  am  a  good  deal  disappointed  in  the  appearance  and 
management  of  the  great  men.  McDuffie  is  far  from  the 
man  I  expected  to  find  him ;  he  is  violent  in  his  gestures, 
and  dogmatical  in  his  statements.  The  Senate  may  well 


348  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

be  termed,  the  aristocratic  branch  of  the  Government,  for 
it  is  truly  so  at  present.  It  is  even  whispered  here,  that 
Mr.  Taney,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  is  to  be  rejected. 
I  hope  not,  for  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  Senate. 

Is  the  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  already  forgotten, 
and  will  the  Senate  destroy  their  usefulness  by  their 
capriciousness  ? 

A  number  of  bills  have  been  reported  to  the  Senate,  all 
asking  for  money  to  some  individual  purpose.  In  looking 
over  the  appropriations  of  last  year,  when  applied  to  their 
individual  objects,  I  did  not  believe  it  possible  that  human 
ingenuity  was  capable  of  inventing  as  many  schemes  for 
the  laying  out  of  money.  This  city  lives  upon  the  bounty 
of  Congress,  and  wishes  to  claim  it  as  a  right. 

The  Senate  continues  in  session  rather  less  than  three 
hours  each  day ;  the  House  somewhat  longer. 


DECEMBER  22d,  1833. 

I  expressed  to  you,  in  some  of  my  letters,  that  the 
North  and  East  were  coming  round  to  correct  principles, 
while  the  South  was  receding.  I  am  still  more  and  more, 
of  that  opinion,  from  what  I  see  and  hear  daily.  I  sent 
you  the  first  part  of  Mr.  McDuffie's  speech ;  you  see  the 
tone  which  it  displays ;  yet  it  speaks  the  language  of  the 
Southern  majority.  We  have  here  a  great  deal  of  com- 
bustible matter  and  discordant  materials.  I  have  far  less 
hopes  of  a  lasting  Union  between  the  States  than  when  I 
left  home.  I  hope  that  I  may,  before  the  Session  adjourns, 
find  I  am  in  error ;  but  of  this  every  day  lessens  my  hope. 
If  this  Government  will  confine  its  action  within  the 
strict  letter  of  the  Constitution,  and  exercise  even  then, 
as  little  power  as  possible,  so  as  to  fulfill  the  design  of  the 
Constitution,  all  will  yet  be  well. 

My  fears  of  consolidation  are  subsiding,  as  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  civil  powers  of  this  Government.  Congress 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  349 

can  not  put  down  the  State  authorities  by  the  operation 
of  law  —  that  sentiment,  I  feel  certain,  is  gaining  ground. 
The  States  can,  and  will,  govern  here,  if  they  make  the 
effort,  and  are  united ;  and  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
General  Government,  to  oppress  any  State,  will,  as  every 
other  act  of  oppression  does,  eventually  create  sympathy 
for  its  fate. 

Matthew  Carey,  in  his  New  Series  of  the  Olive  Branch, 
tells  the  people  of  the  South,  that  he  would  willingly  part 
from  them,  if  the  tie  could  be  broken  without  shedding 
blood  ;  that,  although  the  course  they  are  pursuing  is  an 
evil  to  the  country,  yet  their  separation  would  be  a  still 
greater  one. 


DECEMBER  24th,  1833. 

I  mail  you  the  Telegraph,  of  this  morning.  You  will 
see  renewed  evidences  of  the  bitter  feeling  of  the  Nulli- 
fiers,  in  that  paper,  and  in  McDuffie's  speech.  "With  him 
the  Bank  is  everything,  and  the  Government  nothing; 
Biddle  his  idol,  and  Jackson  his  Devil.  I  went  into  the 
Hall  of  the  House  on  yesterday,  while  he  was  speaking. 
You  know  that  the  members  sit  with  their  hats  on ;  but 
one-half  or  more,  had  left  the  room. 

McDuffie  is  not  the  orator  that  we  used  to  think  he  was. 
While  speaking  he  throws  his  hands  very  awkwardly, 
picks  up  and  then  puts  down  his  handerchief  and  papers 
before  him,  has  rather  a  squealing  and  disagreeable  voice, 
is  small,  and  leans  forward.  If  he  is  the  great  intellectual 
champion  of  Nullification,  I  think  its  props  will  soon  give 
way. 

I  have  as  yet  sat  still  in  my  place.  I  am  endeavoring 
to  learn  what  sort  of  stuff  the  Senate  is  made  of.  I  have 
heard  some  speeches  here  not  so  good  as  I  have  heard  in 
the  Ohio  Senate.  The  Keporter  here  makes  the  speech 
as  printed.  It  is  delivered  not  half  as  correct,  and 


360  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

frequently  so  low  as  to  be  scarcely  audible.  I  sat  near  the 
center  of  the  room,  and  I  could  not  correctly  hear  Mr. 
Webster. 


DECEMBER  29,  1832. 

The  Bank  and  Bank-men  are  in  dreadful  agony.  "We 
hear  their  groans  daily ;  all  will  not  do.  The  House  have 
settled  the  question.  No  one  of  the  majority  there  can 
now  go  for  the  Bank,  without  a  total  loss  of  his  reputation, 
both  public  and  private. 


JANUARY  1, 1834. 

I  have  just  returned  from  the  President's  Levee.  The 
house  was  so  filled  that  it  was  irksome  to  be  there ;  to  the 
President  it  must  be  splendid  misery.  Such  I  thought 
was  his  situation  the  other  day  when  I  dined  with  him  ; 
his  visitors,  however,  have  the  advantage,  as  they  can 
leave  as  they  please.  It  is  only  imagination  that  men 
here  are  greater  than  elsewhere. 

The  Bank  party  find  themselves  in  a  minority  in  the 
House.  They  pretend  to  wish  a  speedy  discussion  on 
the  Deposit  question — but  this  is  mere  pretense.  It  is 
plainly  perceivable  that  they  bend  their  whole  course  to 
create  as  much  excitement  here  as  possible,  in  order  to 
create  a  corresponding  excitement  in  the  country,  in 
hopes  that  a  state  of  things  will  be  produced  which  will 
terrify  or  induce  men  to  vote  for  the  Bank.  This  com- 
plied with,  the  money  influence  is  now  their  only  hope. 
They  act  in  perfect  concert.  This  plan  of  operation, 
which  is  no  doubt  designed  to  affect  the  public  mind,  is 
prepared  by  the  master  spirits  out  of  doors. 

Mr.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  has  begun  his  reply  to  McDuffie, 
in  the  House.  It  will  be  a  most  triumphant  refutation, 
and  will  completely  vindicate  the  President  and  Secretary 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  351 

in  the  removal  of  the  Deposits.  It  will  disabuse  the 
public  mind,  and  set  matters  in  their  proper  light.  But 
this  is  to  be  procrastinated  by  the  arts  of  the  Opposition, 
as  long  as  possible.  Never  has  any  curse  fallen  on  this 
Republic  equal  to  the  Bank.  If  it  triumph  now  it  will 
rule  for  ages.  I  trust  the  majority  of  the  House  will 
stand  firm.  Should  corruption  find  its  way  into  the 
Capitol  Gen.  Jackson  will  be  found  safe.  But  I  do  wish 
and  hope  the  venerable  chief  will  be  spared  this  further 
trial. 


JANUARY  3d,  1834. 

Col.  Benton  is  now  engaged  in  replying  to  Mr.  Clay. 
He  has  so  far,  in  my  opinion,  completely  prostrated  all 
the  arguments  and  assertions  that  have  been  used  against 
the  President  and  Secretary,  on  the  removal  of  the 
Deposits.  He  has  stated  some  facts  showing  the  most 
unjustifiable  and  illegal  conduct  of  the  Bank,  and  which 
ought  at  once  to  close  the  mouths  of  its  advocates. 

One  of  these  facts  is,  that  the  Bank  had  issued  orders  to 
its  several  Branches,  to  dishonor  each  other's  notes ;  that  in 
fact  notes  on  Branches  have  been  received  on  account  of 
the  Customs,  and  refused  by  the  Branch  where  the  Cus- 
tom was  collected;  that  individuals  owing  at  Branches, 
could  not  pay  their  debts  with  the  notes  of  other  Branches ; 
that  this  order  had  been  lately  issued,  and  this  is  one 
cause,  and  among  the  greatest,  of  the  pressure  upon  the 
money  market  in  the  commercial  cities.  The  Bank  and 
its  friends  are  no  doubt  doing  all  in  their  power  to  distract 
the  country. 

Col.  Benton  has  given  notice,  to-day,  that  he  will  offer 
a  resolution  to  call  President  Biddle  to  the  bar  of  the 
Senate,  to  answer  under  oath,  together  with  others,  res- 
pecting the  conduct  of  the  Bank.  This  resolution  will, 
no  doubt,  be  offered,  and  I  can  not  see  upon  what  princi- 
ple the  Bank-men  can  vote  against  it.  It  will  be  a 


352  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

indeed,  to  see  "Old  Kick  "  marching  up  to  the  bar  of  the 
Senate,  to  give  an  account  of  his  evil  deeds.  "Will  he 
come?  I  doubt  it.  It  is  said,  and  appearances  are  in 
favor  of  it,  that  Mr.  "Webster  is  courting  the  West ;  look- 
ing, probably,  beyond  l<tr.  Yan  Buren's  time,  and  the 
opinion  or  resolution  of  our  General  Assembly  will  have 
much  weight  with  him. 


JANUARY  24th,  1834. 

The  rage  for  speech -making  is  not  in  the  least  abated. 
Colonel  Preston,  of  South  Carolina,  finished  his  speech 
to-day.  It  was  a  most  inflammatory  and  theatrical  one ; 
but  containing  assertions  repugnant  to  every  American 
feeling.  It  will  be  extolled  to  the  skies  by  the  Nullifiers. 
Men  of  sense  however,  will  and  already  do,  condemn  it. 

I  visited  the  President  last  evening ;  he  is  firm,  and  in 
good  heart.  Every  day  brings  him  fresh  assurances  of 
increased  confidence  among  the  people,  in  his  administra- 
tion. And  I  have  not  at  present,  a  doubt,  but  he  is  fully, 
if  not  more  popular  now  than  at  any  former  period; 
although  in  the  Senate}  he  is  every  day,  if  any  of  the 
opposition  speak,  called  over  and  over  again,  a  usurper,  a 
tyrant,  a  violator  of  the  Constitution,  and  totally  disre- 
garding any  law,  he  heedlessly  follows  the  blind  impulses 
of  his  own  mind.  Indeed  this  abuse  is  moderate,  as  to 
what  is  sometimes  said.  But  all  this  thunder  is  lost  on 
the  walls  of  the  Capitol,  or  only  cheers  a  few  Bank 
dependents  that  surround  the  Halls. 

I  am  fearful  we  shall  not  adjourn  before  next  harvest. 
Mr.  "Webster  said  on  yesterday,  that  we  ought  not  to 
adjourn  until  we  did  something  to  regulate  the  currency ; 
that  a  Bank  of  some  kind  must  be  had ;  that  for  his  part, 
he  was  in  favor  of  a  re-charter  of  the  present  Bank.  I 
thought  when  he  said  it,  and  I  still  think,  if  we  stay  until 
that  time,  we  shall  not  be  at  home  after  the  fourth  of  next 
March  a  year.  Indeed,  I  have  but  little  doubt,  that  in 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  353 

five  years  time,  Congress  will  continue  in  session  the 
whole  time  after  their  first  meeting,  until  the  end  of  the 
two  years,  unless  the  people  and  the  State  Legislatures 
express  themselves  strongly  on  the  subject. 


FEBRUARY  7th,  1834. 

I  have  just  returned  to  my  lodgings,  from  the  Hall  of 
the  House.  The  long  agony  is  over.  The  House  has 
taken  the  vote  on  the  preliminary  question  which  has 
been  debated  for  more  than  two  months  past — 130  against 
the  Bank,  98  in  favor  of  it.  The  country  now  I  think, 
will  settle  down ;  and  men,  instead  of  depending  on  bor- 
rowing, will  look  to  their  own  industry  for  support  —  at 
least  it  ought  to  be  so. 


FEBRUARY  13,  1834. 

I  have  just  returned  from  the  funeral  of  Judge  Boulden, 
of  Virginia,  the  successor  of  John  Randolph  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  time,  place,  and  manner  of  his 
death,  you  will  see  in  the  Telegraph.  It  is  an  extraordi- 
nary circumstance,  and  one  no  doubt,  that  will  cause 
considerable  political  speculation. 

The  manner  of  burying  a  member  of  Congress  here,  is 
a  piece  of  vain  pageantry,  costing  I  have  no  doubt,  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  very  hacks  that 
went  out  from  the  Capitol  to  the  graveyard  (I  have  no 
doubt),  will  amount  to  more  than  five  hundred  dollars, 
paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the  House.  But  so  it 
is,  and  so  it  will  be,  till  the  people  of  the  States  are  more 
attentive  to  what  is  done  in  small  things,  as  well  as  great. 

Bank  petitions  from  the  cities  still  come  in ;  the  coun- 
try however,  is  on  the  other  side.  Some  of  the  opposition 
papers  talk  of  a  civil  war.  Yes,  even  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  is  this  vain  and  wicked  threatening  made,  when 
30 


354  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

their  own  Legislature,  by  more  than  two  to  one,  voted 
against  the  restoration  of  the  Deposits  and  a  renewal  of 
the  Charter. 


JANUARY  20th,  1834. 

We  have  had  for  some  weeks  past,  petitions  from  the 
Bank  Gentry  pouring  in  upon  us,  by  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands,  but  we  now  begin  to  hear  from  the  great  mass 
of  the  people.  Pennsylvania  will  no  doubt  stand  firm 
against  the  Bank ;  both  her  Senators  and  I  believe  a 
majority  of  her  Representatives,  are  for  the  people  and 
against  the  Bank. 

The  corruptions  of  that  Institution  are  horrible  ;  and 
could  we  get  a  Committee  to  examine  and  make  a  faithful 
Report,  the  public  would  be  astonished.  I  have  been  told 
to-day,  that  in  the  Folding  room  of  the  House,  there  are 
now  twenty  thousand  or  more  of  the  different  speeches 
of  the  members  of  Congress,  and  other  documents,  in 
favor  of  the  Bank,  that  have  no  doubt  been  printed  by  its 
order,  and  sent  here  to  be  folded  and  franked  by  members 
of  Congress ;  thus  the  folding  paper,  the  time  of  the 
officers  of  the  House,  the  postage  that  is  saved  by  the  frank, 
amount  to  many  thousand  dollars,  of  which  the  Bank  thus 
defrauds  the  people  by  their  friends  in  Congress.  There 
are  a  number  of  young  men  and  boys  employed  by  each 
House,  who  fold  all  the  public  documents  for  the  members, 
and  a  room  is  appropriated  in  the  Capitol  for  that  purpose. 
This  is  what  I  mean  by  the  folding  room,  and  it  is  thus 
prostituted  to  the  service  of  the  Bank. 

I  see  that  in  some  places  in  Ohio,  movements  are  making 
in  favor  of  the  Bank ;  it  has  produced  here  considerable 
effect.  If  the  people  were  called  to  act  in  a  Presidential 
Election,  under  the  present  excited  state  of  feeling,  it 
would,  in  my  opinion,  be  doubtful  if  the  Bank  would  not 
be  sustained.  It  has  evidenced  much  prudence  and  fore- 
Bight  in  the  President,  that  the  Crisis  has  been  brought 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS.  355 

on  now  by  a  removal  of  the  Deposits.  The  public  will 
have  time  to  examine,  reflect,  and  judge;  and  they  will 
discover  in  time  only,  the  dangerous  power  of  the 
Bank. 

Mr.  Wirt,  late  Attorney  General,  was  buried  to-day. 
He  died  the  evening  before  last.  He  had  attended  Court 
until  a  few  days  before  his  death. 

From  all  I  can  learn,  there  appears  to  be  no  doubt,  that 
Yan  Buren  and  Johnson  are  to  be  taken  up  by  a  National 
Convention.  They  will  succeed. 


MARCH  1st,  1834. 

A  rather  unpleasant  and  curious  circumstance  took 
place  in  the  Senate,  yesterday.  Mr.  Poindexter  had  made 
some  serious  and  unfounded  remarks  against  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  saying,  that  he  had  issued  an  order  to 
remove  a  million  of  dollars  or  more,  from  the  Bank  at 
Natchez,  which  had  been  deposited  on  account  of  the 
United  States,  to  New  York,  to  prevent  the  Safety  Fund 
Banks,  in  that  State  from  failing.  Mr.  Forsyth  received 
from  the  Treasury  department,  a  certificate,  that  no  such 
order  had  been  issued,  or  even  thought  of,  and  he  charged 
the  matter  home  on  Poindexter,  by  telling  him  on  the 
floor  that  he  had  stated  a  falsehood. 

Poin in  a  passion,  demanded  to  know  if  Forsyth 

intended  to  impeach  his  veracity,  saying,  at  the  same 
time,  no  man  should  do  this  but  at  the  hazard  of  his  life. 
Forsyth,  with  much  dignity,  said,  l{  what  he  had  said  was 
said;  he  despised  the  threat  of  the  gentleman,  and  would 
not  answer  his  questions."  You  can  easily  see,  in  what  a 
position  this  answer  placed  the  parties.  The  Senate, 
however,  before  they  adjourned,  and  with  closed  doors, 
had  the  matter  compromised,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of 
both  Poindexter  and  his  friends  ;  for  he  found  in  Forsyth 
he  had  caught  a  Tartar. 


35G  LIFE    OP   SENATOR     MORRIS. 

MARCH  12th,  1834. 

We  are  now  threatened  by  Mr.  "Webster,  that  we  must 
stay  here  until  the  country  is  relieved,  that  is,  the  Bank 
must  be  re-chartered,  and  this  is  to  be  effected  by  opera- 
ting on  members  by  keeping  them  in  Session  by  force  of 
the  majority  in  the  Senate,  until  the  agitation  of  the 
country  shall  be  such,  that  fear  and  not  duty  shall  do  the 
work. 

Mr.  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  said,  a  day  or  two  since,  the 
people  would  obtain  redress  by  petitions  and  remon- 
strances if  they  could,  if  these  would  not  do,  they  would 
resort  to  other  means,  that  of  revolution;  that  his  consti- 
tuents had  strong  arms  and  stout  hearts.  Other  Senators 
had  used  still  more  threatening  language  than  this.  The 
Bank  partisans  adopted  the  same  idea,  and  by  this  kind  ojf 
operation,  worse  than  folly  itself,  they  hope  to  succeed. 
As  far,  however,  as  I  can  learn,  a  reaction  is  now  begun 
in  the  country,  and  I  feel  certain  that  the  President  would 
be  sustained,  if  the  question  was  put  at  this  time.  A  new 
election  will,  however,  show  the  state  of  public  feeling, 
and  this,  I  believe,  is  what  they  most  fear ;  and  hope 
before  that  evidence  is  taken,  to  carry  their  project  by 
storm. 


MARCH  25th,  1834. 

Mr.  Webster  has  reported  a  bill  to  extend  the  Bank 
charter  six  years.  The  question  was  leave  to  introduce 
it;  a  debate  had  begun  on  the  bill  to-day;  he  moved  to 
lay  his  motion  on  the  table  ;  a  few  of  us  tried  to  keep  it 
up  for  debate  but  were  outruled. 

The  distress  party  here,  are  in  real  distress  themselves  ; 
they  have  cried  wolf  so  long  that  no  one  cares  for  it,  and 
now  when  public  opinion  against  the  Bank  is  coming  in 
from  almost  every  quarter,  in  such  force,  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  that  the  country  will  sustain  the  President,  their 
own  cries  of  distress  will  not  avail  them.  The  Virginia 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  357 

I 

elections  come  on  next  week,  and  no  doubt  is  entertained 
here  but  they  will  sustain  the  President,  and  that  Mr. 
.Rives  will  be  returned  to  the  Senate  next  winter. 

Pennsylvania,  too,  will  be  found  against  the  Bank. 
Resolutions  to  that  effect  have  already  passed  the  Senate, 
and  no  doubt  will  pass  the  House ;  a  sufficient  number 
of  States  in  that  event,  will  have  declared  against  the  Bank, 
to  carry  the  next  Presidential  Election.  The  Bank  men 
may  hang  their  harps  on  the  willows. 


APRIL  29th,  1834. 

No  possible  good  can  come  of  this  session,  is  now 
admitted  by  all  parties  here ;  yet  we  are  to  be  kept  in 
Session  by  the  majority  of  the  Senate,  for  the  purpose 
of  producing  effect  on  public  opinion,  which  is  to  operate 
on  the  next  October  elections,  in  some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant States. 


MAY  20th,  1834. 

Though  the  Bank  party  here  are  still  apparently  in 
good  spirits,  yet  it  is  evident  their  cause  is  on  the  decline, 
in  every  part  of  the  country.  The  whole  object  seems 
now  to  be,  to  induce  some  friends  of  the  Administration 
to  propose  to  the  present  Congress,  a  bill  for  a  new  Bank, 
and  have  hope  that  the  scheme  will  come  from  R.  M. 
Johnson.  If  the  Col.  should  take  this  step,  it  will,  in  my 
opinion,  prostrate  his  hopes  in  the  Western  country. 

The  investigating  Committee  have  not  yet  reported. 
If  the  American  people  can  submit  to  the  conduct  of  the 
Bank  toward  that  Committee,  they  may  well  be  considered 
not  only  slaves,  but  fit  slaves  of  the  Bank. 

There  are  more  falsehoods  fabricated  here  and  sent 
abroad  by  letter  writers,  than  from  any  other  spot  in  the 
Dnited  States.  They  are  a  set  of  hangers  on  about 


358  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

Congress,  who  live  by  misrepresentations  and  falsehoods. 
They  are  constantly  striving  to  keep  up  the  present  excite- 
ment in  the  country,  and  to  procure  memorials  in  favor 
of  the  Bank  to  be  sent  to  Congress.  Ohio  has  so  far 
escaped  their  wiles. 

I  have  begun  a  calculation  on  the  public  printing,  show- 
ing the  amount  of  printing  only.  I  have  no  doubt  but  it 
will  be  found  that  each  member  of  Congress  requires  ten 
dollars  per  day  for  Contingent  expenses  alone,  inde- 
pendent of  the  officers  of  each  House,  which  will  amount 
during  the  present  Congress,  to  nearly  nine  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  I  confess  I  am  astonished  at  the 
result.  Can  this  Government  be  continued  under  such 
abuses  ?  The  country  is  too  large ;  we  are  too  far  from  our 
Constituents. 

This  Government  in  money  matters  is  becoming  more 
corrupt  than  any  other  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  yet 
we  talk  of  Eepublican  simplicity.  It  is  in  the  power  of 
the  States,  in  the  formation  of  a  Senate,  to  do  more  for 
the  preservation  of  our  liberties  than  any  other  branch 
of  the  Government.  If  the  States,  in  their  sovereign 
character  will  not  take  charge  of,  and  keep  this  Govern- 
ment in  proper  bounds,  I  predict  its  total  change,  either 
by  a  separation  of  its  parties,  or  an  amalgamation  of  them ; 
and  in  this  opinion,  I  know  I  am  not  alone.  Many  of 
the  most  sober  minded  men  in  Congress,  think  the  same. 

"We  are  now  near  the  close  of  the  Session,  without  having 
done  anything  but  vote  money,  lands,  etc.  No  news  yet 
from  France.  I  am  confident  the  country  will  sustain  the 
President,  in  his  proposed  actions  against  France,  though 
I  would  willingly  forbear  as  long  as  possible  ;  yet  some- 
thing ought  to  be  done,  before  our  adjournment.  I  am 
for  a  non-intercourse  Act.  This,  I  think  will  do  for  the 
present. 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  359 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

EXTRACTS  from  Various  Speeches  —  Extrayagance  in  Public  Printing — 
"Contingent  Expenses  of  Members  of  Congress  —  Cost  of  their  Snuff, 
and  Horse  Hire,  etc.  — Speech  on  the  Safe  Keeping  of  the  Public 
Moneys  —  Extracts  from  it  —  Its  Just  Views  —  Speech  on  the  Land 
Bill  —  Speech  on  the  Ohio  and  Michigan  Boundary  Line. 

As  a  Senator  in  Congress,  to  whom  was  intrusted,  in 
part;  the  special  interests  of  Ohio,  and  the  common 
interests  of  the  country,  Mr.  Morris  felt  his  responsibili- 
ties, and  was  active  and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties.  His  manly  position  and  defense  of  freedom,  and 
his  vigilant  labors  against  the  aggressions  of  the  slave 
power,  did  not  exclude  from  his  attention  other  important 
interests  of  the  country.  As  an  independent  politician 
and  legislator,  he  acted,  and  voted,  in  the  Senate  Chamber 
of  the  United  States,  on  all  subjects,  in  accordance  with 
the  matured  convictions  of  his  judgment.  A  Democrat 
from  principle,  and  not  for  party — he  was  always  found 
advocating  the  doctrines  of  Democracy,  on  the  great 
financial  questions  that  came  up  for  examination  and 
settlement.  A  Southern  Democratic. Senator,  in  familiar 
greeting,  said  to  him — "Morris,  you  are  right  on  all 
subjects  but  slavery" 

In  this  Chapter  will  be  found  extracts  from  various 
elaborate  speeches  he  made  on  the  Currency  of  the  Coun- 
try ;  the  Land  Bill ;  the  Boundary  Line  between  Ohio 
and  Michigan  ;  and  on  the  Extravagance  of  the  Govern- 
ment, in  the  use  of  Public  Moneys.  They  are  worthy  of 
the  reader's  attention. 


360  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

The  first  extracts  are  from  a  Speech  on  the  Extrava- 
gance of  Congress  in  Printing  Documents  and  Books. 

Mr.  Benton,  on  the  28th  of  December,  1838,  made  a 
motion,  that  thirty  thousand  copies  of  certain  voluminous 
documents,  printed  by  the  British  Parliament  in  1818,  in 
reference  to  salt  duties,  be  reprinted  by  Congress,  for  the 
use  of  members,  and  for  information  to  the  country.  The 
motion  was  carried.  Mr.  Morris,  a  day  or  two  subse- 
quent, moved,  that  the  resolutions  to  print  these  docu- 
ments, be  rescinded ;  and  offered,  among  others,  the 
following  remarks,  on  the  practice  of  extravagant  print- 
ing by  Congress : 

"  He  thought  the  printing  of  books  by  order  of  Con- 
gress, a  very  unjustifiable  use  of  the  public  money,  and  if 
Congress  took  a  few  steps  more  in  this  business  —  indeed, 
if  they  persisted  in  the  order  for  printing  thirty  thousand 
copies  of  this  book  —  it  might  well  be  said,  that  instead 
of  a  legislative  body,  Congress  would  soon  convert  them- 
selves into  a  great  National  Book  Concern.  A  Methodist 
Book  Concern,  a  Presbyterian  Book  Concern,  or  that  of 
any  other  religious  or  political  association,  was  a  com- 
mendable thing ;  but  it  was  a  private  affair,  by  which 
individuals  at  their  own  expense,  undertook  to  promul- 
gate through  the  country  and  among  the  people,  their 
own  peculiar  opinions  and  doctrines ;  and  all  they  asked 
of  the  Government  in  the  exercise  of  this,  their  undoubted 
right,  was  protection  and  safety  for  their  persons  and 
property,  from  mobs  and  unlawful  violence.  But  he  had 
seen  with  regret  and  alarm,  Congress  as  a  public  body, 
ordering  the  printing  of  documents  and  papers  calculated 
to  promote  the  peculiar  views  and  doctrines  of  individuals 
and  parties  in  Congress. 

"  The  fact  was,  and  he  well  knew  it,  those  Public  Docu- 
ments, printed  by  order,  were  seldom  read ;  and  if  the  thirty 
thousand  of  these  Salt  Documents  should  be  printed,  not 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  361 

one-third  of  the  members  of  Congress  themselves  would 
read  one,  and  they  would  be  read  by  a  far  less  proportion 
of  the  community  at  large.  There  was  another  objec- 
tionable view  of  this  matter. 

"  These  Books  and  Documents  were  always  made  with 
a  professed  view  of  circulating  information  among  the 
people.  And  how  was  this  done  ?  We  tax  the  people  at 
large,  say  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  yet  books  and 
papers  when  printed,  become  tpso  facto,  the  private  prop- 
erty of  the  members.  A  fair  division  of  the  plunder,  he 
admitted,  was  always  made.  The  members  could  either 
sell  them  or  send  them  to  their  friends,  as  each  one 
thought  best ;  or  leave  them  in  their  boarding  rooms,  to 
be  used  as  waste  paper. 

"  These  documents  were  frequently  printed  for  political 
effect ;  for  the  purpose  of  advancing  the  private  and  polit- 
ical views  of  individuals,  and  he  did  not  believe  that  the 
people  would  be  willing  to  be  taxed  for  this  purpose.  Let 
any  Senator  collect  together  one  hundred  thousand  of  his 
constituents,  and  inform  them  that  he  would  lay  and  col- 
lect a  tax,  to  which  each  should  contribute  fifty  cents,  and 
that  with  this  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  he  would 
cause  to  be  published,  thirty  thousand  documents — these 
British  documents — and  that  he  would  select  thirty  thous- 
and from  among  the  number,  to  whom,  if  it  should  suit 
his  pleasure,  he  would  bestow  as  a  gratuity,  and  under  his 
own  frank  too,  one  copy  each,  to  become  the  private 
property  of  such  individual.  He  did  not  believe  any 
portion  of  the  American  people  would  consent  to  be  taxed 
in  this  manner,  and  for  such  a  purpose  as  this ;  yet  such 
were  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  such  the  results  of  voting 
books  and  documents  to  ourselves.  We  tax  the  whole 
people,  and  then  put  our  hands  into  the  public  Treasury, 
apply  the  tax  to  the  purchase  of  books  to  distribute 
among  our  friends,  which  may  enable  them  to  sustain  us 
at  all  future  elections.  He  would  much  rather  let  the 
31 


362  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  the  printing  of  these  books 
would  cost,  remain  in  the  pockets  of  the  people,  to  pur- 
chase such  books  as  their  judgments  or  fancy  should  sug- 
gest. There  is  a  still  more  pressing  objection  to  the 
printing  of  these  foreign  books. 

"  The  extravagance  of  the  Government  has  become  pro- 
verbial, and  the  corruption  which  such  a  system  was 
introducing  throughout  the  country  was  alarming.  The 
astounding  defalcations  which  had  lately  taken  place 
among  collecting  and  disbursing  agents,  was  a  part  and 
parcel  of  this  system  of  extravagant  and  improper  appro- 
priations ;  and  in  these  piping  times  of  talking  about 
economy  and  reform,  our  declarations  were  but  in  mock- 
cry  of  our  doings. 

"  "What  was  the  amount  of  contingent  expenses  of  the 
other  House  of  Congress,  the  last  session  (1838)  ?  $272,- 
245.84  !  Yes  !  only  two  hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand,  two 
hundred  and  forty-Jive  dollars  and  eighty-four  cents!  The  con- 
tingent expenses  of  the  Senate,  for  the  same  session,  was 
$112,992.20 — one  hundred  and  twelve  thousand,  nine  hundred 
and  ninety-two  dollars  and  twenty  cents!  A  man  of  common 
sense  and  prudent  habits,  in  looking  over  the  items  to 
make  up  this  enormous  amount  of  expenditure,  for  the 
mere  contingencies  of  Congress  for  one  session,  must  feel 
amazed  at  the  ingenuity  of  men  in  devising  means  to 
waste  the  public  money.  He  had  looked  hastily  over  the 
items,  and  found  one  hundred  and  fifty -two  dollars  for 
making  pens,  thirty-nine  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for  snuff, 
and  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-one  dollars  for 
horse-hire  for  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  three 
hundred  and  fourteen  dollars  for  an  hostler ;  in  the  Senate 
for  the  same  hire,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  dollars.  It  would  seem  to  a  plain,  upright  man,  if 
he  were  informed  that  this  sum  of  three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-four  dollars  and  ninety-two  cents 
for  horse-hire,  and  three  hundred  and  fourteen  dollars  for 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  363 

an  hostler,  was  expended  during  one  session,  that  this 
Congress  actually  legislated  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  on  horseback.  Sir,  it  is  mockery,  cruel  mockery,  to 
talk  here  about  favoring  the  laboring  classes,  the  agri- 
culturists— those  from  whom  you  draw  all  the  means  for 
the  extravagance  around  us  ;  some  thousands  of  dollars, 
Mr.  President,  for  the  very  drapery  over  and  around  your 
chair,  while  every  part  of  the  Senate  chamber  presents 
equal  extravagance.  The  money  expended  yearly,  within 
your  iron-bound  enclosures,  which  surround  your  Capitol, 
was  more  than  the  yearly  expenses  of  the  Government  of 
the  State  of  Ohio,  which  he  had  the  honor,  in  part,  to 
represent. 

"  He  did  not  wish  now  to  look  into  the  expenditures  of 
the  public  money  in  the  different  departments  of  the  G  ov- 
ernment ;  that  stupendous  mass  of  extravagance,  corrup- 
tion and  fraud,  which  he  feared  existed ;  the  fault  of  which 
was,  mainly,  if  not  altogether,  in  the  legislation  aud  acts 
of  Congress.  He  had  confined  his  view  to  the  household 
economy  of  the  body,  to  their  furniture,  the  dress  of  their 
chamber,  and  their  pin-money  alone ;  and  he  hoped  they 
would  begin  the  work  of  reformation  and  retrenchment 
at  home.  The  people  had  been  "  salted  "  quite  sufficient  in 
this  branch  of  the  public  expenditure,  without  adding  to 
the  amount  fifty  thousand  dollars  for  printing  these 
British  salt  documents. 

"  He  hoped  Senators  would  pause,  and  look  back  at  what 
they  had  done.  The  amount  paid  for  printing  had  been 
enormous.  The  Post  Office  Report — some  thirty  thousand 
copies,  or  more — had  been  printed  at  about  fifty  thousand 
dollars  cost,  with  a  view  of  enlightening  the  people,  as  to 
the  alleged  corruptions  of  that  Department;  and  what 
had  this  printing  done?  Furnished  a  fat  job  for  the 
printer — and-  the  whole  story  is  told.  He  had  heard  of 
their  being  used  as  wadding  for  cannon,  fired  to  celebrate 
Democratic  victories !  He  thought  this  an  effectual  mode 


364  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

of  distribution,  and  commended  the  inventor  for  his  wit. 
In  his  part  of  the  country,  this  document,  with  others, 
under  which  the  mails  groan,  franked  by  members  of 
Congress,  was  distributed  in  country  stores,  and  used  for 
wrapping  paper  for  tea,  and  other  articles. 

"  Thus  we  had  gone  on,  printing  and  distributing  books 
and  documents,  until  the  practice  had  become  a  serious 
drain  upon  the  Treasury,  and  almost  a  nuisance  in  the 
country;  they  were  used,  not  for  information,  but  as 
weapons  for  political  warfare,  by  contending  parties." 

The  extravagance  of  Congress,  in  public  printing,  and 
in  other  things,  as  here  described  by  Mr.  Morris,  has 
greatly  increased  since  he  was  in  the  Senate.  The  cost  of 
three  publications,  during  the  Congress  of  1853  and  '4, 
"  Perry's  Japan  Expedition,"  "  The  Pacific  Eailroad  Sur- 
vey," and  "  Ellis's  Report,"  cost  over  one  million  of 
dollars ;  and  the  present  Congress  of  1856,  voted  each 
member  over  a  thousand  dollars  worth  of  books,  printed 
at  the  expense  of  the  people. 

EXTRACTS  FROJI  HIS  SPEECH  ON  THE  CURRENCY,  AND  SAPE  KEEPING 

OF  THE  PUBLIC  MONEYS. 

What,  Mr.  President,  is  the  question  before  us  ?  It  is, 
does  there  exist  a  vital,  inherent  power  in  this  Govern- 
ment, that  Congress  can  call  into  action,  for  the  purpose 
of  preserving,  and  keeping  safely,  the  money  contributed 
by  the  people,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  functions 
of  Government,  between  the  times  of  its  collection  and 
disbursement  in  pursuance  of  law,  and  that,  too,  without 
any  foreign  or  extraneous  aid  ?  To  a  plain  and  honest 
man,  unacquainted  with  the  intrigues  of  office,  or  the 
wiles  of  speculators,  to  ask  this  question  would  be  to 
answer  it. 

The  position  assumed  is,  that  Congress  is  bound  to 
provide  a  currency  for  the  country.  I  can  by  no  means 
admit  this  argument,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  has  been 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  365 

urged  in  this  debate.  Congress  furnish,  in  fact,  a  cur- 
rency for  the  country !  If  so,  from  what  source  is  that 
power  derived,  and  in  what  form  is  it  to  be  exercised  ? 
Congress,  by  the  Constitution,  has  power  to  coin  money, 
and  regulate  its  value,  and  the  value  of  foreign  coins. 
This  provision  of  the  Constitution  by  no  means  authori- 
zes Congress,  to  make  or  increase  the  currency,  by  the 
mere  act  of  Government,  either  for  its  own  use,  or  the  use 
of  individual  citizens.  It  would  be  a  dangerous  practice, 
and  at  war  with  every  principle  of  our  Government,  for 
Congress  to  exercise  or  possess  a  power  like  this. 

I  admit,  that  in  despotic  or  monarchical  Governments, 
where  power  is  claimed  not  to  be  derived  from  the  people, 
butywre  divino,  the  power  to  supply  their  own  Treasury,  by 
their  own  authority,  is  claimed  and  exercised.  It  is  the 
peculiar  prerogative  of  the  crown  to  make  its  own  money. 
That  power,  in  this  country,  belongs  to  the  people.  The 
Government  can  have  no  money,  but  by  their  permission. 
The  people  have  in  their  Constitution  provided,  that  gold 
and  silver  shall  be  the  material  of  which  money  shall  be 
made  ;  and  they  have  given  the  power  to  Congress  to  coin 
it,  and  regulate  its  value.  Congress  has  declared  by  law 
the  shape  and  size  of  money,  and  the  inscription  it  shall 
bear.  They  have  also  caused  to  be  erected  a  mint,  a  great 
national  workshop,  where  money  shall  be  made;  they 
have  erected  machinery  and  employed  workmen  for  this 
purpose,  all  at  the  public  expense,  and  the  operation  is 
called  coining ;  but  Congress  have  no  power  to  dig  the  ore 
or  purchase  bullion,  in  order  to  make  money  for  the  use 
of  the  Government.  The  mint  belongs  to  the  people ;  it 
is  for  their  use ;  it  is  to  make  money  for  them,  free  of 
personal  expense,  out  of  their  own  metal,  and  for  their 
own  benefit;  and  how  much,  or  how  little  they  will  have, 
like  all  other  articles  of  property,  depends  on  themselves, 
and  will  be  regulated  by  their  means,  their  industry,  their 
fancy,  and  their  taste ;  and  the  Government  is  under  no 


366  LIFE     OP     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

more  obligation  to  afford  aid  to  individuals  in  this  pur- 
suit, than  it  is  to  aid  them  in  rearing  cattle,  or  in  acquiring 
any  other  species  of  property.  It  would  be  as  dangerous 
to  public  liberty  to  permit  the  Government  to  enter  into 
competition  with  individual  enterprise,  in  this  particular, 
as  it  would  be  to  enter  into  competition  in  the  trade,  com- 
merce, manufacturing,  or  agricultural  pursuits  of  the 
people. 

Hence  the  wise  men  who  framed  our  Constitution,  have 
prescribed  that  the  Government  shall  have  no  other 
income  for  its  support,  but  what  the  people  shall  con- 
tribute, by  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  excises,  the  sale  of  the 
public  domain,  and  the  borrowing  of  money.  If  I  am 
correct  in  the  positions  I  have  assumed,  and  upon  which 
I  have  no  doubt,  what  becomes  of  the  argument  —  that 
Congress  is  bound  to  furnish  a  currency  for  the  country  ? 
It  is  lost,  having  no  foundation  whatever  on  which  to  rest. 
Gentlemen  urge  on  us  another  system,  which  they  call 
the  credit  system  —  a  concentrated  and  corporate  credit, 
which  circulates  in  the  form  of  bank  notes,  and  which 
they  contend,  is  the  purifier  of  our  morals,  the  reformer 
of  the  age,  and  whose  benign  influence  scatters  peace  and 
smiling  plenty  on  the  country,  and  without  which  we 
would  retrograde  in  a  short  time,  at  least  to  a  semi- 
barbarian  age.  Permit  me  Sir,  to  examine  for  a  moment, 
this  credit  system.  Gentlemen  say  that  the  Government 
is  making  war  upon  that  system,  and  thus  destroying 
confidence,  upon  which  the  whole  prosperity  of  the  coun- 
try depends.  Sir,  in  my  opinion,  we  have  too  much, 
instead  of  too  little  credit ;  too  many  of  our  citizens  are 
endeavoring  to  live  on  credit,  instead  of  industry.  These 
consist  of  the  trading  and  speculating  classes.  And  they 
are  asking  the  aid  of  the  Government,  to  enable  them~to 
seize  upon  the  property  of  the  laboring  and  production, 
classes,  and  appropriate  it  to  their  own  use,  by  virtue  of 
this  credit  system.  Credit  belongs  to  man.in  his  individual 


LIFE     OP     SENATOR    MORRIS.  367 

character,  not  in  his  corporate  capacity;  and  it  is  the 
essence  of  oppression  and  tyranny  for  the  Government  to 
bestow  upon  it  a  fictitious  existence,  in  order  to  give  them 
a  credit  which  they  never  could  otherwise  have,  and  for 
which,  in  that  character  (their  individual  character),  they 
are  not  responsible.  It  is  to  my  mind  impossible  for  the 
Government  to  lend  its  support  to  the  credit  of  any  man 
or  set  of  men,  without  producing  injury  to  others.  The 
Government  has  nothing  of  its  own  intrinsically :  what  it 
bestows  upon  one,  it  must  wrest  from  another;  and  it 
would  be  as  highly  impolitic,  unjust,  and  despotic,  for  the 
Government  to  seize  upon  the  individual  credit  of  the 
country,  and  force  it  out  of  its  natural  channel  according 
to  its  pleasure,  as  it  would  be  to  seize  upon  the  entire 
property  of  the  country  for  the  same  purpose.  Ko  coun- 
try can  be  free,  where  the  Government  thus  interferes 
with  the  private  concerns  of  individuals,  for  the  purpose 
of  adjusting  the  balance  of  wealth  among  them. 

On  first  taking  my  seat  in  this  body,  I  was  surprised  to 
hear  that  the  practice  had  been  to  permit  those  who  had 
the  public  money  in  their  hands,  to  use  it  in  trade  or  spe- 
culation, between  the  time  of  its  collection  and  disburse- 
ment. Large  sums  were  then  being  paid  into  the  treasury, 
for  which  the  Government  had  no  immediate  use.  I  was 
asked  if  I  would  permit  those  sums  to  lie  idle  until 
expended  by  operation  of  law?  Surely  I  would.  I  thought 
then,  and  I  think  now,  that  it  would  be  better  for  the 
country  that  they  should  have  been  entirely  lost,  even 
burnt  in  the  streets  of  "Washington,  rather  than  be  used 
for  the  corruption  of  the  people.  But,  Sir,  other  counsels 
prevailed,  the  money  was  ordered  to  be  deposited  in  the 
State  Bank,  a  measure  to  which  I  gave  an  unwilling 
assent.  The  banks  were  told  to  loan  liberally  on  those 
deposits.  And  what  has  been  the  consequence  ?  A  host 
of  borrowers  were  immediately  found  at  the  banks,  who, 
in  the  pursuit  of  fancied  wealth,  neglected  the  ordinary 


368  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

and  substantial  pursuits  of  life.  Loans  were  obtained, 
and  many  estimable  young  men,  who  otherwise  would 
have  been  valuable  and  useful  citizens,  became  specula- 
tors in  practice,  and  gamblers  in  principle.  The  Govern- 
ment thus  tempted  them  to  leave  the  sober,  honest  walks 
of  life,  for  the  uncertain  pursuit  of  riches;  and  they  forgot 
that  excellent  prayer,  the  best  ever  put  into  the  mouth 
of  man,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  Thus,  this 
valuable  class  of  our  citizens  were  prevented  from  adding 
to  the  permanent  wealth  of  the  country.  They  became 
borrowers,  dependants  upon  the  banks ;  they  forgot  that 
word  of  truth,  "  That  the  borrower  is  the  servant  of  the 
lender,"  and  it  seems  to  be  forgotten  here.  A  gentleman 
near  me,  Sir,  says  that  slave  is  the  original  word  ;  yes, 
Sir,  the  borrower  is  the  slave  of  the  lender  !  Who,  Sir, 
will  dispute  this  ?  Thus,  that  manly  independence  of 
mind  that  should  mark  the  American  character,  is 
exchanged  for  a  miserable  dependence  on  soulless  corpo- 
rations, and  in  the  midst  of  this  wild  course  of  extrava- 
gance, the  banks  themselves  become  involved,  they  close 
their  doors,  refuse  to  refund  to  the  Government  the  money 
deposited,  or  to  discharge  their  other  liabilities  to  indi- 
viduals. What  a  monstrous  picture  of  corruption. 

Born,  Sir,  and  cradled  in  the  lap  of  the  Revolution,  my 
infant  mind  received  its  first  impressions  of  Government 
from  that  Constitution  under  which  we  now  live,  formed 
by  the  wise  and  good  men  of  that  day.  I  was  taught  to 
believe  that  the  great  object  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
end  proposed  by  the  Constitution,  was  the  security  of  the 
individual  liberty  —  not  the  promotion  of  individual 
aggrandizement,  or  the  means  of  procuring  individual 
wealth.  It  was  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,  of  equal 
rights  to  each  and  to  all,  to  themselves  and  their  posterity 
forever.  All  we  ask  from  the  Government,  is  protection, 
security  from  violence,  and  the  administration  of  impar- 
tial justice ;  that  the  domestic  fireside  may  be  safe  from 


, 

' 

LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  369 

either  internal  or  foreign  aggression ;  that  the  bounties 
of  Providence  which  we  have  gathered  through  the  day 
by  the  labor  of  our  own  hands,  may  be  safe  from  the 
midnight  robber ;  in  fact,  that  we  may  all  sit  with  safety 
under  our  own  vine  or  our  own  fig  tree,  and  none  be  suf- 
fered to  make  us  afraid. 

We  claim  neither  the  vine  nor  fig  tree  of  Government ; 
nor  do  we  wish  the  power  or  means  of  Government  to 
enable  us  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  labor,  or  possess  the 
vineyard,  of  another.  Riches  and  wealth  should  be  the 
reward  of  individual  industry,  frugality,  and  economy  — 
and  not  acquired  by  the  favor  or  patronage  of  Govern- 
ment. Yet  the  whole  of  the  arguments  against  this  bill, 
are  based  upon  this  principle — the  principle  that  the 
Government  is  bound  to  furnish  the  means  to  the  citizens, 
not  only  for  obtaining  a  livelihood,  but  of  accumulating  a 
fortune.  Sir,  this  is  the  language  of  tyranny  and  despot- 
ism—  to  promise  the  people  much,  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  sufficient  power  to  rob  them  of  all.  I  heartily 
agree  in  the  sentiment  expressed  by  the  President  — 
"  That  all  communities  are  apt  to  look  to  Government  for 
too  much.  Even  in  our  country,  where  its  powers  and 
duties  are  so  strictly  limited,  we  are  prone  to  do  so, 
especially  at  periods  of  sudden  embarrassment  and  dis- 
tress. But  this  ought  not  to  be.  The  powers  of  our 
excellent  Constitution,  and  the  people  who  approved  it 
with  calm  and  serious  deliberation,  acted  at  the  same 
time  on  a  sounder  principle.  They  wisely  judged,  that 
the  less  the  Government  should  interfere  in  private  pur- 
suits, the  better  for  the  general  prosperity.  It  is  not  its 
legitimate  object  to  make  men  rich ;  or  to  repair  by  direct 
grants  of  money  or  by  legislation,  in  favor  of  particular 
pursuits,  the  losses  not  incurred  in  public  service.  This 
would  be  substantially,  to  use  the  property  of  some  for 
the  benefit  of  others ;  but  its  real  duty  —  that  duty,  the 
performance  of  which  makes  a  good  Government  the  most 


370  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

precious  of  human  blessings — is  to  enact  and  enforce  the 
system  of  general  laws  commensurate  with,  but  not 
exceeding  the  objects  of  its  establishment ;  and  to  leave 
every  citizen  and  every  interest  to  reap  under  its  benign 
influence,  the  rewards  of  virtue,  industry,  and  prudence." 

The  President  further  says  —  "  I  can  not  doubt  that  on 
this  as  on  all  similar  occasions,  the  Federal  Government 
will  find  its  agency  most  condusive  to  the  security  and 
happiness  of  the  people,  when  limited  to  the  exercise  of 
its  conceded  powers.  In  never  assuming  for  a  well-meant 
object,  such  powers  as  were  not  designed  to  be  conferred 
upon  it,  we  shall  in  reality  do  most  for  the  general  wel- 
fare. To  avoid  every  unnecessary  interference  with  the 
pursuits  of  the  citizens,  will  result  in  more  benefit  than  to 
adopt  measures  which  could  only  assist  limited  interest." 

Sir,  these  are  the  sentiments  of  our  Eepublican  citizens, 
and  of  that  eminent  man  whom  they  have  called  to  pre- 
side over  the  affairs  of  the  country ;  they  are  sentiments 
in  the  belief  of  which  I  have  grown  up,  and  they  now 
form  the  creed  of  my  political  faith,  and  in  the  belief  of 
which  I  expect  to  die.  But,  Sir,  this  is  not  the  political 
doctrine  which  the  opposers  of  this  administration  incul- 
cate. Their  doctrine  teaches  a  servile  dependence  of  the 
people  upon  the  Government  for  the  promotion  of  indi- 
vidual or  local  interest;  a  doctrine  which  makes  the 
people  nothing  within  themselves,  and  the  Government 
everything  for  the  promotion  of  their  pecuniary  interest. 
This  is  the  doctrine  of  despotism,  and  the  means  by  which 
tyrants  have  always  seized  upon  power.  Establish  it 
here,  and  your  boasted  liberty  will  be  but  an  empty 
sound,  a  mere  delusive  phantom,  of  which  you  will  soon 
lose  even  the  sight. 

It  has  been  thundered  in  our  ears,  that  the  great  ques- 
tion is,  whether  the  people  shall  have  bread  or  no  bread? 
This  sound  was  first  heard  from  the  consuming  classes  of 
our  great  commercial  cities ;  it  originated  with  those  who 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  371 

not  only  lived  upon  their  own  credit,  but  had  sold  that 
credit  to  their  laborers  and  dependents,  and  when  it  failed 
and  became  worthless  for  want  of  a  "feasts,"  they  came 
forward  and  asked  the  Government  to  sustain  it  in  its 
sinking  condition,  by  permitting  them  to  amalgate  it  with 
the  credit  of  the  Government ;  and  because  this  unjust 
application  is  refused,  they  raise  the  cry  of  bread  or  no 
bread,  and  declare  that  the  Government  is  withholding 
bread  from  the  people ;  indeed  this  false  and  ground- 
less position  is  assumed  on  this  floor.  Gentleman  have 
asserted  the  same  thing  —  indeed,  they  have  gone  still 
further.  It  has  been  said  (but  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary 
to  designate  gentlemen  by  reference),  that  "the  duty  of 
the  Government,  as  I  understand  it,  is  to  provide 
bread  for  the  people." 

"  The  duty  of  the  Government  to  provide  bread  for  the 
people  !  "  Clothing  also,  I  suppose !  This  idea  of  pro- 
viding by  the  Government  for  the  private  wants  of  the 
people,  has  in  it  nothing  new.  It  has  been  long  practiced 
by  men  whose  object  was  the  overthrow  of  their  country; 
and  we  find  this  scheme  resorted  to,  in  almost  every  age 
of  the  world. 

When  the  unnatural  son  of  the  Jewish  King  wished  to 
dethrone  his  father,  he  made  use  of  this  same  principle. 
He  told  every  man  who  had  any  application  to  make  to 
the  Government,  that  his  matters  were  just  and  right,  but 
there  was  no  one  deputed  to  hear  him ;  and  he,  also,  told 
all  such,  that  if  he  were  made  Judge  in  the  land,  that  he 
would  do  every  man  justice.  I  fear,  Sir,  the  same  dispo- 
sition is  felt  and  breathed  from  many  a  heart  in  this  our 
day.  "  Oh  !  that  I  were  made  President  of  these  United 
States,  then  should  every  man  have  bread."  I  trust  the 
last  scene  of  Absalom's  career  will  not  be  theirs.  And 
Watt  Tyler,  too  (if  I  mistake  not  the  name),  promised 
the  people  of  England,  in  his  attempt  to  break  down  the 
Government  of  that  country,  that  when  he  obtained  rule, 


372  LIFX    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

a  four-penny  loaf  should  be  sold  for  two  pence,  and  the 
price  of  ale  should  be  reduced.  He  also  endeavored  to 
make  the  people  believe,  that  a  change  in  the  Adminis- 
tion  would  give  them  abundance  of  bread.  In  every  age 
and  in  every  country,  in  which  the  people  have  not  relied 
for  their  support  and  comfort  upon  their  own  individual 
industry,  but  have  consented  like  cattle,  to  be  fed  from 
the  public  crib,  the  downfall  of  freedom  has  been  sure, 
and  the  establishment  of  despotism  certain. 

I  have  always  believed  that  the  happiness  of  a  country, 
and  the  safety  of  Republican  institutions,  were  to  be  found 
in  an  industrious  and  rich  population,  with  a  poor  and 
just  government.  All  the  public  works  executed  and 
owned  by  any  Government,  have  a  tendency  to  strengthen 
its  powers,  and  make  it  arbitrary  and  despotic,  by  reduc- 
ing the  people  to  the  condition  of  its  laborers,  dependants, 
or  tenants.  It  has  also  the  direct  effect  to  increase  offi- 
cial stations,  and  the  arrogance  of  office ;  and  I  am  well 
satisfied,  that  if  the  Government  now  owned  all  the  canals, 
railroads,  and  turnpikes  in  the  United  States,  and  should 
reduce  the  fare,  it  would  not  be  to  the  advantage  of  the 
country,  because  it  would  soon  change  the  nature  of  our 
Republican  institutions — except  we  prefer  a  Government 
to  rule  over  the  people,  instead  of  a  Government  to  be 
ruled  by  the  people,  we  might  then  put  off  the  honest 
garb  of  home-industry,  and  glitter  in  the  livery  of 
power. 

The  following  are  extracts  from  his  speech  on  the  Bill 
to  appropriate,  for  a  limited  time,  the  Proceeds  of  the 
Sales  of  Public  Lands,  and  to  grant  Lands  to  other  States ; 
delivered  in  the  Senate,  April,  1836. 

"  The  Committee  assume  in  their  Report,  that  there  is  a 
vast  surplus  of  revenue  in  the  Treasury ;  that  this  state  of 
things  is  not  desirable,  because  its  natural  tendency  is  to 
produce  extravagance  in  appropriation,  and  wastefulness 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  373 

in  the  expenditure  of  the  public  money.  This  is  a  tru- 
ism, in  part,  not  to  be  controverted;  but  if  it  be  true 
that  this  surplus  actually  exists,  it  is  strange  that  the 
Committee,  after  having  discovered  this  wasteful  disease, 
and  its  cause,  instead  of  recommending  a  radical  cure, 
should  propose  to  extract  the  infectious  matter  from  this 
Government,  and  diffuse  it  into  the  State  Governments, 
and  thus  innoculate  the  entire  body  politic.  To  prevent 
its  effects  here,  this  political  empiricism  would  be  produc- 
tive of  the  most  fatal  results.  The  reduction  of  the  cus- 
toms, which  would  be  a  complete  and  effectual  cure,  the 
Committee  believe  can  not,  or  rather  ought  not  to  be 
resorted  to,  because  it  would  awaken,  as  they  say,  feelings 
dangerous  to  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country.  And 
the  reason  assigned  for  this  strange  conclusion  is,  that  the 
tariff  law  now  in  force,  is  the  result  of  compromise  of  the 
opinions  of  citizens  in  different  sections  of  the  Union,  and 
ought  not  to  be  disturbed,  unless  a  strong  political  neces- 
sity calls  for  some  new  modification.  The  first  position 
assumed  by  the  Committee,  I  believe  to  be  founded  in 
error,  and  calculated  to  mislead  the  public  mind. 

"The  tariff,  as  it  now  exists,  is  not  the  compromise  of  the 
opinions  of  the  citizens  in  the  different  sections  of  the 
country,  because  it  is  too  evident  to  require  proof,  that 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  have  constantly  been 
opposed  to  a  protective  tariff,  and  to  the  collection  of  taxes 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  a  greater  amount  than 
would  be  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  Government ; 
and  on  this  ground  have  they  constantly  opposed  the 
whole  doctrine  of  internal  improvements  by  Congress. 
The  present  tariff  law  is  rather  the  result  of  a  compromise 
between  individual  members  of  Congress,  representing 
different  sectional  interests  of  the  country,  and  was 
entered  into  for  the  advancement  of  those  interests,  inde- 
pendent of  any  consideration  of  results,  as  operating  upon 
the  citizens  generally,  in  each  and  every  section  of  the 


374  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

Union.  The  measure  was  a  foul  conception,  and  produced 
an  unnatural  offspring.  Its  first  born  was  an  attempt  to 
bind  the  hands  of  any  future  Congress  from  legislating  on 
the  subject,  for  a  given  term  of  years :  its  next  has  been 
to  accumulate  money  in  the  Treasury,  which  may  be  used 
to  corrupt  this  Government,  or  be  used  for  corrupting  the 
Governments  of  the  States,  as  may  best  suit  the  interest 
or  convenience  of  those  who  have,  for  the  time  being,  the 
power  of  its  disposal.  And  under  this  unnatural  state  of 
things,  it  is  said  that  the  present  rate  of  duties  must  be 
continued,  and  kept  up  for  the  proper  regulation  of  com- 
merce, and  may  be  necessary  for  the  ordinary  wants  of 
Government.  If  this  last  be  true,  then  indeed  ought  not 
the  customs  to  be  reduced  ?  and  if  sufficient  for  the  ordi- 
nary wants  of  the  Government  is  to  be  raised  by  the 
customs,  then  the  public  lands  ought  no  longer  to  be 
considered  as  a  source  of  revenue  ;  but  I  confess  I  am  una- 
ble to  see  either  the  truth  or  force  of  the  former  part  of 
the  argument.  Duties  for  the  proper  regulation  of  com- 
merce, does  not  depend  on  the  amount,  but  on  their 
equality  in  the  different  ports  of  entry  in  the  United 
States.  If  this  be  correct,  and  I  deem  it  an  undeniable 
position,  then  the  whole  argument,  on  this  point,  falls  to 
the  ground  ;  for  surely  the  customs  can  be  so  lessened  as 
to  reduce  entirely  the  whole  surplus  revenue  in  the 
Treasury.  The  attempt  to  tie  up  the  hands  of  a  future 
Congress,  by  the  mere  operation  of  a  law,  is  still  a  more 
palpable  error.  The  legislative  power  of  the  country  is  at 
all  times  equal ;  it  has  no  bounds  but  the  Constitution,  and 
ought  to  have  no  other  guide  but  the  public  will :  where 
that  leads  it  ought  always  to  follow.  It  is  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country,  as  well  as  the  maintenance  of 
equal  rights,  that  the  legislative  power  should  constantly 
be  free  and  unencumbered ;  but  this  never  would  be  the 
case  if  its  deliberations  could  be  prevented  from  being  had 
on  any  subject  by  existing  laws,  over  which  it  ought  not 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  375 

to  exercise  any  control.  It  would  establish  this  dangerous 
principle,  that  the  power  of  the  people  is  not  always 
competent  for  the  maintenance  of  their  rights.  The  pro- 
posed measure  of  increasing  the  appropriations  for  fortifi- 
cations, the  navy,  and*  general  defense  of  the  country,  is 
not  by  the  Committee  attempted  to  be  directly  negatived ; 
but  it  is  said  that  large  and  liberal  appropriations  of 
money  for  these  purposes,  though  just  and  proper  in  itself, 
can  not  be  well  applied,  and  ought  not  to  be  made,  because 
it  is  not  in  our  power  to  supply  proper  materials,  and 
skillful  engineers  for  this  purpose.  This  is,  at  least,  the 
force  of  the  argument ;  and  on  account  of  this  exigency, 
no  more  than  ordinary  appropriations  ought  to  be  made. 
I  am  at  loss  for  words  to  express  my  surprise  at  this  argu- 
ment ;  nor  can  I,  for  a  moment,  admit  its  correctness ;  I 
can  view  it  in  no  other  light  than  as  a  libel  upon  the  Amer- 
ican people,  and  an  imputation  on  their  skill  and  industry ; 
that  people,  whose  inventive  faculties  and  mechanical 
genius  have  not  only  surpassed  former  ages,  but  is  the 
wonder  of  our  own,  and  who  have  subjected  the  very  ele- 
ments to  the  condition  of  a  laborer  in  their  employ  ;  that 
this  people  should  be  told  by  their  representatives  that 
they  have  not  sufficient  knowledge  to  erect  forts,  build 
ships,  and  other  public  works  to  any  extent,  and  in  the 
best  possible  manner,  is  an  assertion  as  new  as  it  is 
unjust. 

"  The  reducing  the  price  of  the  public  lands,  or  the 
ceding  them  to  the  States  in  which  they  lie,  is  next  con- 
sidered by  the  Committees.  The  first  objection  to  a 
reduction  of  price  is,  that  it  would  tend  to  reduce  the 
price  of  real  estate  generally.  This  objection  is  not  well 
founded ;  the  price  of  an  article  is  a  relative  term,  wanting 
both  stability  and  uniformity :  it  is  the  effect,  not  of  reason 
or  justice,  but  frequently  of  caprice  or  whim,  and  not 
unfrequently  of  taste,  convenience,  or  necessity.  But  as 
to  the  public  lands,  justice,  reason,  convenience,  and 


376  LIFE     Or     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

necessity,  all  seem  to  unite  in  requiring  Congress  to  reduce 
the  price  ;  and  if  this  argument  of  the  Committee  be  valid, 
it  applies  with  equal  force  against  the  introduction  or  erec- 
tion of  any  new  machinery,  or  the  establishment  of  any 
new  trading  house;  for  those  now  in  existence  will  be 
lessened  in  value  thereby,  a  position  which  I  believe  the 
Committee  themselves  would  not  contend  for. 

"  The  next  objection  to  a  reduction  of  the  price  of  the 
public  lands,  is,  that  it  would  operate  to  the  injury,  not 
the  benefit,  of  the  country  in  which  the  lands  are  situated. 
This  argument  is  attempted  to  be  sustained  on  the  same 
grounds  as  the  former,  but  making  its  application  more 
local,  by  the  assertion,  that  it  would  reduce  the  price  of 
all  land  in  the  neighborhood,  pro  rota  with  that  of  the 
public  land.  In  reply  to  this  argument,  I  beg  leave  to 
remind  the  Committee,  that  the  united  voice,  and  almost 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  people,  in  all  the  States  in  which 
the  public  lands  are  situate,  is  against  them,  as  well  as 
the  opinion  of  eveiy  intelligent  and  unbiased  citizen  who 
has  any  correct  knowledge  of  the  new  countries.  They 
all  well  know,  that  the  Government  which  secures  the 
greatest  quantity  of  happiness  and  comfort  to  the  people, 
is  unquestionably  the  best ;  and  that  the  surest  means  to 
accomplish  this  desirable  end,  is  to  enable  every  man  to 
become  a  freeholder,  so  that  he  can  have  the  satisfaction 
of  saying,  that  some  spot,  however  small,  is  his  own ;  that 
the  Government  of  this  country  is  bound  to  protect  him 
in  its  quiet  enjoyment,  and  that,  when  he  shall  return 
from  his  daily  labor  to  his  hearth  and  his  fireside,  none 
shall  be  suffered  to  make  him  afraid :  the  sleep  of  such  a 
man  will  be  quiet,  and  his  repose  sweet :  and  no  matter 
how  coarse  his  fare  may  be,  his  love  of  country  will  never 
fade  nor  languish.  Such  men  as  these  are  the  true  riches 
of  Government,  and  will  always  be  found  ready  to  defend 
their  country  for  their  country's  sake.  It  ought  to  be 
our  most  ardent  wish,  and  constant  policy,  to  provide 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  377 

means  by  which  every  man  in  the  United  States  might 
become  a  freeholder,  if  that  freehold  did  not  consist  of 
more  than  twenty-five  acres ;  indeed,  it  matters  not  so 
much  as  to  quantity,  if  a  right  to  the  soil  be  the  lot  of 
every  citizen. 

"  Another  objection,  made  to  a  reduction  of  the  price 
of  the  public  lands  by  the  Committee,  is,  that  it  would 
encourage  speculation,  and  throw  the  whole  of  the  public 
domain  into  the  hands  of  sharp  sighted  capitalists,  who 
would  be  enabled  to  retail  it  at  advanced  prices  to  actual 
settlers.  This  objection  is  more  showy  than  solid,  for 
every  day's  experience  teaches  us,  that  speculation  in 
articles  of  high  value  is  more  common  than  in  those  of 
low ;  when  the  Government  lands  were  sold  at  two  dollars 
per  acre,  speculation  was  as  much  complained  of  then  as 
now.  It  is  the  relative,  not  the  actual  value  of  an  article, 
that  induces  speculation.  But  this  objection  is  easily 
obviated  by  providing  for  the  sale  of  the  public  land  to 
actual  settlers  only,  and  in  limited  quantities. 

"  The  last,  and  which  the  Committee  consider  the  most 
important  objection  to  the  reduction  of  price  in  the  sale 
of  public  lands,  or  ceding  them  to  the  States  in  which  they 
are  situate,  is,  that  the  several  States,  by  their  deeds  of 
cession  to  the  United  States,  vested  only  a  trust  power, 
and  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  only  the 
mere  trustee  of  the  several  States,  bound  to  carry  into 
effect  the  grants  made  by  the  States  for  the  specific  pur- 
poses intended  by  the  grantors  ;  and  when  those  purposes 
are  fulfilled,  the  residue  of  the  grant  does,  and  of  right 
ought  to  revert  to  the  States ;  and  extending  the  trust 
power  further  than  I  believe  it  has  ever  been  extended  in 
equity,  they  give  the  trustee  the  power  to  change  the 
nature  of  the  trust,  and  convert  the  land  into  money,  and 
distribute  that  among  the  States.  And  one  further 
stretch  of  the  imagination  leads  the  Committee  to  conclude, 
that  lands  acquired  by  the  United  States  by  virtue  of 
32 


378  LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

treaties  made  since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  have 
been  paid  for  by  money  had  from  the  sale  of  lands  ceded 
by  the  States,  and,  according  to  the  rule  laid  down,  they 
subject  the  proceeds  of  these  lands  to  the  like  disposition. 
"  My  first  objection  to  this  fine-spun  and  subtle  theory  is, 
that  I  have  serious  doubts  that  the  sovereign  power  of 
a  country,  at  least  the  sovereign  power  of  this  Govern- 
ment as  vested  in  Congress  by  virtue  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  can,  in  any  case,  become  a  mere  and 
naked  trustee ;  though  it  may  be  said  the  idea  is  borrowed 
from  monarchical  power,  yet  it  is  no  less  correct,  that 
the  sovereign  power  of  a  country,  be  it  vested  in  whom  it 
may,  is  supposed  to  be  constantly  employed  for  the  public 
good,  and  that  no  partial  care  can  enter  into  its  compo- 
sition. It  can  not  subject  itself  to  control  by  any  part  of 
those  over  whom  its  constant  duty  is  to  watch  for  the 
welfare  of  all ;  nor  can  it  act  in  subordination  to  any 
other  power ;  for,  in  either  case,  it  would  be  an  abroga- 
tion of  sovereignty.  But  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to 
sustain  the  argument  that  I  should  rely  exclusively  on 
the  general  doctrine  that  the  sovereign  power,  where  it  is 
primary,  original  and  confined  in  its  operation  only  by 
Constitutional  limits,  as  in  the  case  with  the  Legislative 
power  of  the  States,  can  not  be  a  trustee  ;  yet  in  a  Govern- 
ment like  that  of  the  United  States,  where  its  whole  action 
exists  and  is  brought  into  operation  by  grants,  the  exer- 
cise of  its  power  must  be  limited  and  brought  expressly 
within  those  grants ;  and  I  contend,  that  in  no  part  or 
clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  is  the 
power  granted  to  Congress  to  become  a  trustee  in  any 
case  ;  no,  not  even  for  the  purpose  of  diffusing  knowledge 
among  men.  But  if  such  power  can  be  inferred  from  the 
Constitution,  it  must  be  from  some  general  grant  in  that 
instrument ;  and  if  so,  by  virtue  thereof,  the  United  States 
can  not  only  act  as  trustee  for  the  several  States,  but  may 
be  the  trustee  of  any  foreign  gentleman  or  State  whatever. 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  379 

This  Government,  if  this  position  be  correct,  can  become 
the  trustee  of  the  Barings  or  Kothschilds  in  the  manage- 
ment of  any  money  concern  they  may  think  proper  to 
establish  in  this  country,  whether  it  be  for  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge  among  men,  or  of  buying  men  for  political 
purposes  without  knowledge,  or  at  least,  without  virtue. 
Under  this  general  trust  power,  as  it  is  presented  to  my 
mind,  and  as  admitted,  and,  indeed,  contended  for  by  the 
Committee,  Congress  can  become  the  trustee  of  the  Bank 
of  England ;  the  trustee  of  the  East  India  Company,  or 
of  any  foreign  Government  whatever  ;  and  thus  act  in  the 
double  capacity  of  an  American  Legislature,  and  as  agent 
or  trustee  for  another  power,  however  inimical  that  power 
may  be  to  our  own.  Indeed,  I  can  not  see  but  Congress, 
by  becoming  trustee,  can  effect  any  object  they  wish,  no 
matter  what  that  object  is,  whether  within  the  granted 
powers  of  the  Constitution  or  not.  Congress  may  have  in 
view  a  favorite  object  of  an  internal  improvement,  for  the 
benefit  of  two  or  more  favorite  States;  they  may  bestow 
upon,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  bill,  distribute  to  these 
States  millions  of  the  public  revenue  ;  and  it  may  be  well 
understood  that  the  States  are  to  create  Congress  a  trustee 
for  the  express  purpose  of  expending  this  money  accord- 
ing to  their  own  wish.  There  can  be  no  end  of  abuses  of 
this  kind  if  Congress  can  act  as  trustee,  and  accomplish 
that  which  they  can  not  do  by  direct  acts  of  Legislation. 
I  contend,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  deeds  of  cession 
made  by  the  States  to  the  United  States,  did  not  create  a 
trust,  nor  were  they  so  intended  ;  they  contain  no  words 
of  limitation,  but  such  as  are  applicable  to  the  exercise  of 
power  by  Congress  in  every  other  case. 

"  Take,  for  example,  as  the  Committee  have,  the  deed  of 
cession  made  by  Virginia.  The  only  words  of  limitation 
mentioned  by  the  Committee,  and  they  are  the  only  ones 
in  the  deed,  are,  that  the  land  ceded  shall  be  considered  a 
common  fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  United  States, 


380       •  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

. 

members  of  the  federal  alliance,  and  shall  be  faithfully  and 
bona  fide  disposed  of  for  that  purpose,  and  for  no  other 
use  or  purpose  whatever.  These  words,  which  are  now 
to  operate  as  a  talisman,  and  change  the  money  received 
for  public  lands  from  the  character  of  revenue,  into  that 
of  property  held  by  the  Government  in  trust  for  the 
States,  are  nothing  more,  nor  can  they  rightfully  receive 
any  other  construction,  than  to  place  the  avails  of  the 
public  lands  on  the  same  footing  as  the  proceeds  of  taxes, 
duties,  or  customs.  The  money  received  from  all  or  either 
of  these  sources,  is  the  revenue  of  the  country,  and  Con- 
gress is  bound  in  good  faith  to  consider  it  a  common  fund 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  all  the  United  States,  as  a  joint 
confederacy,  and  not  as  a  fund  belonging  to  the  States 
severally ;  and  Congress  have  power  only  to  apply  the 
whole,  or  any  part  thereof,  to  such  objects  as  are  exclu- 
sively within  the  power  of  this  Government,  and  to  no 
other  use,  intent,  or  purpose,  whatever. 

"  But  there  is  an  inconsistency  in  the  views  of  the  Com- 
mittee, which  they  seem  to  have  entirely  overlooked. 
They  contend  that  this  Government,  as  trustee,  ought  to 
distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  to  the  States 
in  severality,  while  the  very  words  of  the  trust  which 
they  claim,  are,  that  the  land  shall  be  a  common  fund  for 
the  use  of  the  States  as  a  joint  confederacy.  This  very 
inconsistency  proves  the  fallacy  of  their  whole  system. 

"  That  the  United  States  acquired  a  full  and  absolute  title 
to  the  lands  ceded  by  the  States,  I  think  is  clearly  evident, 
because  Congress  have  granted  portions  of  these  lands  to 
States,  as  well  as  individuals,  without  any  compensation 
given  for  the  same;  and  titles  made  in  pursuance  of  such 
grants  are  unquestionably  valid  in  courts  of  law,  and  the 
power  of  Congress  in  this  particular,  as  being  rightfully 
exercised,  has  never  been  questioned  in  public  opinion. 

"  In  my  own  mind,  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  pub- 
lic lands  of  the  United  States  may  be  granted  by  Congress 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  381 

to  the  individual  States  in  which  they  lie,  or  to  individual 
persons,  with  or  without  compensation,  as  the  safety  or 
security  of  the  United  States  shall  require ;  but  when 
converted  into  money,  and  paid  into  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  they  assume  a  different  character ;  they 
are  revenue ;  and  that  Congress  can  apply  the  revenue 
of  the  country  to  internal  improvements,  or  make  a 
donation  of  it  to  States  or  individuals,  has  been  con- 
stantly denied  by  a  great  majority  of  the  American 
people. 

"  If  we  are  to  consider  the  distribution  contemplated  by 
the  bill  as  a  mere  gratuity  on  the  part  of  this  Government, 
and  that  Congress  has  no  power  to  define  the  purposes  to 
which  the  States  shall  apply  it  —  and  this  principle  seems 
to  be  admitted  by  the  bill  itself —  I  should  be  glad  to 
know  what  could  prevent  Congress  from  distributing  to 
twenty -four  individuals,  or  any  other  number,  this  money, 
instead  of  a  distribution  among  the  States.  I  can  see  no 
difference  in  the  principle  governing  the  two  cases ;  and 
the  exercise  of  power,  in  my  view  of  the  subject,  is  as 
clearly  unconstitutional  in  one  case  as  the  other ;  though 
a  distribution  to  individuals  would  so  shock  the  moral 
sense  of  every  man  that,  with  one  united  voice,  it  would 
be  declared  that  Congress  had  most  grossly  violated  the 
Constitution,  as  well  as  being  guilty  of  an  act  of  moral 
turpitude. 

"  There  is  another  view  of  this  subject  still  more  appal- 
ling. It  is  true  that  Congress,  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  have  no  power  to  make  any  law  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exer- 
cise thereof;  but  if  Congress  have  power  to  create  a  sur- 
plus revenue,  and  power  to  make  a  distribution  of  the 
same,  they  can  in  effect  render  null  and  void  this  provision 
of  the  Constitution ;  they  can  distribute  this  money  to  any 
church  or  sect  they  please,  and  thus  as  far  as  money  and 
the  favor  of  the  Government  will  answer,  give  such  church 


382  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

or  sect  the  ascendency,  whether  the  same  be  Protestant  or 
Catholic.  It  is  said  money  answers  all  things.  Congress 
can  then,  by  its  use,  make  an  establishment  of  religion. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  on  this  subject,  if  Congress  possesses 
the  power  to  make  the  distribution  contemplated  by  the 
bill,  I  feel  confident  that  I  have  not  extended  the  argument 
further  than  the  premises  will  warrant ;  and  I  now  seri- 
ously put  the  question  to  every  member  of  this  Body,  if 
he  is  prepared  to  say,  that  by  virtue  of  the  power  vested 
in  him  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  he  has 
the  right  to  vote  an  appropriation  of  money  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  for  any  of  the 
purposes  which  I  have  mentioned?  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  one  Senator  who  will  openly  and  positively  avow  such 
right. 

"  As  you  lessen  the  necessity  for  the  States  relying  on 
their  own  means  and  exertions  for  their  support,  you 
destroy  their  ability  to  do  so ;  their  increasing  weakness 
becomes  the  strength  of  this  Government,  and  thus 
enables  it  to  supply  additional  means  to  make  the  States 
still  more  weak.  The  very  money  you  bestow,  although 
it  may  make  the  State  rich  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view, 
yet  those  very  riches  will  be  the  bane  of  equality  and 
freedom.  Suppose  the  money  you  bestow  should  be  suf- 
ficient to  enable  the  State  to  become  the  owner  of  every 
canal  and  leading  road  in  its  jurisdiction,  and  to  hold  the 
same  as  Government  property;  the  first  result  would  be 
a  host  of  officers  to  '  eat  out  the  substance  of  the  people, 
and  destroy  their  living ;'  the  next  to  bring  into  existence 
a  class  of  men  who  would  of  course  become  the  tenants, 
laborers,  and  dependents  of  the  Government,  instead  of 
being  free  citizens  of  the  State.  When  Government  is  a 
large  property  holder,  the  inevitable  consequence  must 
and  will  be  distinctions  in  society.  The  wealth  of  the 
country  will  be  found  in  the  lesser  number,  and  power 
will  be  more  secure  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are 


LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS.  383 

intrusted  with  the  management  of  public  affairs,  until  the 
very  condition  of  landlord  and  tenant  will  be  found  to 
exist  between  the  officers  of  Government  and  laborers  for 
the  State.  It  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  perfect  absurdity  to 
suppose  that  the  principles  of  democracy  and  equal  rights 
can  long  exist  in  a  State  that  is  herself  a  large  property 
holder. 

"  The  public  lands  ought  to  be  looked  to  as  a  source  of 
wealth  belonging  to  future  generations,  not  on  account  of 
the  money  they  will  bring,  but  for  the  population  they 
will  sustain.  A  steady,  industrious,  contented  and  fixed 
population,  are  the  riches  of  a  country.  A  provision  of 
the  above  kind,  would,  in  my  opinion,  produce  that  effect ; 
a  residence  of  three  years  would  produce  the  blessings 
and  attachments  of  home,  while  the  sale  of  the  freehold, 
even  at  an  advanced  price,  would  seldom  be  an  induce- 
ment to  part  with  it,  because  a  larger  quantity  of  land  in 
most  cases  could  not  be  purchased  elsewhere,  and  thus 
contentment  would  ensue,  while  the  products  of  the  farm 
would  enable  the  younger  branches  of  the  family  to  pro- 
vide themselves  a  home  upon  the  same  terms.  The  next 
beneficial  result  would  be,  to  check  at  once  the  fearful 
speculation  in  public  lands  that  is  now  in  progress,  and 
that  ruinous  system  of  borrowing  that  is  resorted  to  for 
that  purpose;  and  those  now  engaged  in  that  business 
would  then  turn  their  attention  and  means  to  some  other 
pursuit  that  would  advance  the  growth,  prosperity  and 
permanent  wealth  of  the  country.  And  last,  though  not 
least,  it  would  dry  up  one  of  those  sluices,  through  which 
money  that  is  not  needed  is  constantly  pouring  into  the 
Treasury ;  and  it  would  preserve  for  our  children  and  our 
children's  children,  even  to  remote  generations,  an  oppor- 
tunity of  acquiring  a  freehold  on  the  same  terms  as  was 
afforded  to  their  fathers.  But  if  we  sell  this  valuable 
estate  now  as  fast  as  possible,  for  the  highest  price  that 
can  be  obtained,  and  make  that  and  not  the  settlement  of 


384  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  country  our  object,  and  then  distribute  the  proceeds 
among  the  several  States,  for  the  purpose  of  having  it 
expended,  spent,  or  squandered,  we  act  the  part  of  an 
improvident  spendthrift,  who,  having  acquired  by  descent 
a  large  landed  estate,  converts  it  in  to  money  as  fast  as  pos- 
sible, for  the  purpose  of  gratifying  his  vanity,  or  acquiring 
power  and  influence  by  corruption  and  fraud. 

"  In  the  next  place,  I  would  repeal  the  entire  duties  on 
all  articles  that  are  used  in  any  manner  or  form  in  the 
diet  of  the  country  ;  and  to  show  its  effects  upon  that  part 
of  the  country  in  which  I  reside,  I  would  instance  the 
duty  on  sugar  alone,  which  we  now  pay  into  the  Treasury 
or  as  a  bounty  to  the  manufacturer ;  take  the  duty  off  that 
article,  and  the  price  would  be  reduced  at  least  two  cents 
on  the  pound.  The  bill  contemplates  giving  to  the  State 
of  Ohio  about  one  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  as  her 
proportion  of  the  spoils  for  three  years ;  and  the  profession 
of  the  friends  of  the  bill  are,  that  they  wish  to  give  this 
money  back  to  those  who  paid  it,  and  as  they  can  not  do 
that,  they  will  approximate  as  nigh  as  possible,  by  giving 
it  to  the  States.  Every  family  in  the  United  States,  I 
presume,  uses  sugar,  and  for  the  argument  I  will  allow 
one  hundred  pounds  per  annum  to  each  family  of 
five  persons.  In  Ohio  we  nave  probably  three  hundred 
thousand  families  who  pay  a  tax  on  sugar  of  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars  yearly.  In  three  years  we  pay  one 
million  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  tax  on  sugar 
alone ;  repeal  this  tax,  and  you  in  effect  give  to  each 
family  two  dollars  per  annum — a  sum  larger  than  will  be 
distributed  to  them  by  the  bill,  could  its  friends  make  its 
operation  as  they  profess  to  wish  ;  but  if  the  surplus 
revenue  be  so  extravagantly  large  as  has  been  repre- 
sented, I  would  go  one  step  further,  reduce  the  duties  on 
articles  of  wearing  apparel  of  the  coarser  texture,  which 
are  used  mostly  by  the  laboring  classes,  so  that  the 
revenue  of  the  Government  will  not  exceed  its  just  wants, 


LIFE   OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  385 

and  you  will  relieve  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  one  year,  from, 
the  payment  of  a  much  larger  amount  than  is  proposed 
to  bestow  upon  her  by  the  provisions  of  this  bill. 

"  It  has  been  also  said  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  as 
matter  of  alarming  tendency,  that  it  is  claimed  for  the 
President  that  he  is  the  representative  of  the  people,  and 
that  General  Jackson  has  put  up  such  claim  in  his  own 
behalf,  as  the  single  representative  of  the  whole  people 
of  the  United  States.  Whether  these  assertions  be  well 
founded  or  not,  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  inquire.  I  have 
never  been  alarmed  at  the  cry  of  danger  from  Executive 
power.  That  power,  though  extensive  in  its  operations, 
is  held  under  so  many  checks  and  restraints,  that  I  have 
always  viewed  it  the  weakest  and  least  dangerous  of  the 
three  great  powers  of  this  Government.  It  is  in  the  first 
place  an  elective  power  by  the  whole  people  for  a  short 
period  of  years ;  and  being  intrusted  to  a  single  person,  it 
is  watched  with  the  most  vigilant  attention,  and  the  least 
departure  from  correct  principles  is  deeply  noted  in  the 
public  mind.  It  is  a  power  which  can  originate  no 
measure,  but  is  the  agent,  and  subject  to  the  orders  of 
the  other  great  powers  of  the  Government.  Being  in 
the  hands  of  one  man,  he  is  subject  to  impeachment 
by  the  Eepresentatives  of  the  people;  and  the  Senate, 
with  the  Chief  Justice  at  its  head,  are  his  judges.  It 
would  be  strange  indeed,  if  the  Executive  power,  thus 
checked  and  circumscribed,  first  by  the  people,  then  by 
the  other  powers  of  the  Government  combined,  should 
ever  become  dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  the  country. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  have  thrown  too  many 
guards  around  it  to  excite  any  such  fear.  I  am  myself 
clearly  of  opinion,  that  if  the  liberties  of  the  people  of 
this  country  are  ever  destroyed,  it  will  be  the  act  of  an 
American  Congress ;  and  the  first  scene  of  the  grand 
drama,  constituted  as  the  Senate  now  is,  will  take  place 
in  this  Body/' 
'33 


386  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

When  Michigan  sought  admission  into  the  Union,  in 
1836,  a  controversy  arose  between  her  and  the  State  of 
Ohio,  as  to  the  geographical  boundary  line  between  them. 
The  Constitution  of  Ohio,  and  that  of  Michigan,  in 
defining  their  respective  territorial  boundaries,  came  in 
conflict ;  Michigan  claiming  a  portion  that  was  included  in 
the  geographical  limits  of  Ohio,  as  described  by  her  Con- 
stitution, and  established  by  the  Act  of  Congress,  in 
admitting  Ohio  into  the  Union.  The  Controversy  occa- 
sioned no  little  excitement  in  both  States,  and  each  threat- 
ened to  maintain  their  rights  by  force  of  arms.  Governor 
Lucas,  of  Ohio,  an  early  legislator  and  an  honest  politician 
and  man,  called  an  extra  Session  of  the  Legislature,  to 
determine  what  Ohio  would  do  in  the  case.  The  question 
came  before  Congress  for  settlement,  when  Michigan 
asked  admission  into  the  Union,  and  was  one  of  grave 
interest  and  importance  to  the  National  Legislature.  In 
the  Senate,  a  select  Committee,  of  which  Mr.  Benton  was 
Chairman,  was  appointed  ;  and  many  of  the  Senators  par- 
ticipated in  the  debate,  which  the  controversy  originated. 
Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr.  Morris,  Senators  from  Ohio,  made 
lengthy  speeches,  in  defense  of  the  claims  of  Ohio ;  the 
question  was  settled  by  an  Act  of  Congress,  and  in  favor 
of  Ohio.  Brief  extracts  from  Mr.  Morris's  able  speech, 
made  in  the  Senate,  on  the  10th  of  March  1836,  are  here 
recorded : 

"  Let  it  be  constantly  borne  in  mind,  that  Ohio,  on  this 
question,  comes  before  Congress,  as  a  sovereign  State; 
that  she  is  not  soliciting  a  favor,  but  demanding  a  right ; 
that  she  claims  to  have  the  clear  grant  of  the  Territory, 
in  dispute  between  her  and  Michigan,  and  appeals  to 
Congress  to  withdraw  the  incumbrance  they  have  cast 
over  her  title. 

"  In  the  year  1806,  I  first  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  the 
Legislature  of  Ohio.  No  one  then  doubted  the  Constitu- 
tional boundary  of  the  State;  no  one  thought  of  ft 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  387 

provisional  boundary  subject  to  the  after  control  of  Con- 
gress, or  that  any  assent  of  Congress  then  given  or  with- 
held, without  the  consent  of  the  State,  could  possibly  make 
any  alteration  of  the  actual  existing  boundary.  But,  as  the 
country  in  the  Northwest  part  of  the  State  was  then  unset- 
tled, and  its  geographical  situation  not  well  understood, 
and  as  political  movements  of  much  importance  were 
then  taking  place  in  the  United  States ;  the  attention  of 
the  General  Assembly  was  not  turned  to  this  subject 
during  that  Session.  But  the  next  Session  of  the  General 
Assembly  took  up  the  subject,  and  after  expressing  belief 
that  the  due  east  and  west  line  drawn  through  the 
Southerly  extreme  of  Lake  Michigan  would  not  intersect 
Lake  Erie,  or  would  intersect  that  Lake  east  of  the  Miami 
River  or  Lake,  they,  therefore,  instructed  their  Senators 
and  requested  th^ir  Representatives  in  Congress,  to  obtain 
a  law  to  ascertain  and  define  the  Northern  boundary  of 
the  State,  andfec\he  same  agreeably  to  the  proviso  contained  in 
the  Sixth  Section,  and  Seventh  Article  of  the  Constitution.  The 
succeeding  sessiojr  reviewed  the  request,  and  also  in  the 
Session  of  1811.  Congress,  in  1812,  passed  an  act  to 
authorize  the  President,  to  ascertain  and  define  certain 
boundaries.  This  act  was  passed  in  pursuance  of  the 
repeated  applications  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio, 
but,  (the  war  of  1812,  intervening)  was  not  carried  into 
effect  till  1816.  In  that  year,  President  Madison  directed 
the  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office  to  authorize  the  Sur- 
veyor General  to  run  and  mark  the  Northern  Boundary  of 
Ohio  ;  in  pursuance  of  this  authority  the  Surveyor  General 
directed  William  Harris,  to  run  and  mark  the  line  to 
which  Ohio  asserted  jurisdiction,  and  which  he  contends 
is  the  true  northern  boundary.  This  officer  (the  Sur- 
veyor General)  had  been  President  of  the  Convention 
that  formed  the  Constitution  of  Ohio ;  was  the  first 
Governor  of  the  State,  and  afterward  Senator  in  Congress. 
As  a  faithful  public  officer,  he  was  bound  to  carry  into 


388  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

effect  the  instruction  of  the  President.  Governor  Wor- 
thington,  who  had  formerly  been  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  from  Ohio,  in  his  message  to  the  General 
Assembly,  in  1817,  declared  that  the  Northern  boundary 
of  the  State,  had  been  lately  ascertained,  under  the  authority 
of  the  United  States.  The  message  on  this  subject  was 
referred  to  a  committee  who  reported  '  That  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  fully  assented  to  the  proviso  in  the 
Constitution  of  Ohio,  by  their  acceptance  of  the  State  into 
the  Union.'  A  resolution,  in  accordance  with  the  bound- 
ary line,  as  defined  in  the  Constitution,  was  reported  and 
adopted. 

"  Permit  me  here  to  pause,  and  ask  the  solemn  question, 
how  public  compacts  are  to  receive  construction,  action, 
and  validity?  We  have  seen  what  the  compact  was,  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  it  was  made  and  the  parties  to 
it ;  and  I  know  of  no  better  source  to  look  for  the  manner 
in  which  it  ought  to  be  fulfilled,  than  public  opinion.  It 
was  that  which  laid  the  foundation  of  our  Government, 
erected  the  superstructure,  and  constantly  supports  the 
•whole  edifice.  Let  us  then  test  this  compact  by  the  pub- 
lic opinion  in  Ohio.  The  Constitution  of  her  State  was 
formed  when  her  Territory  contained  less  than  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  up  to  the  present  moment, 
1836,  when  the  same  Territory  is  teeming  with  nearly,  if 
not  fully  one  and  a  half  millions — during  all  this  time, 
and  under  every  change  of  circumstances  and  men,  that 
there  has  been  but  one  undivided,  unbroken  opinion  in 
the  State,  on  the  question  of  her  northern  boundary  ;  and 
that  is,  that  the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  is  esta- 
blished by  the  Constitution,  and  is  where  the  line  has 
been  lately  re-marked  by  the  authority  of  the  Legislature. 
To  this  fact,  all  the  public  functionaries  of  the  State,  have 
borne  ample  testimony,  as  well  as  the  united  voice  of  her 
citizens.  Can  it  be  possible  that  any  portion  of  the  enlight- 
ened citizens  of  this  country,  acting  in  the  sovereign 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  389 

character  of  a  State,  can,  in  a  question  of  Constitutional 
right  be  mistaken,  and  that  mistake  persisted  in,  for  more 
than  thirty  years  ;  or  that  a  million  and  a  half  of  our 
citizens  are  80  unjust,  that  they  ask  an  alteration  in  the 
boundaries  of  the  State,  and  are  willing  it  should  be 
resolved  into  a  question  of  mere  political  expediency. 
Sir,  I  can  not  thus  libel  the  people  of  Ohio.  I  can  not 
believe  it. 

"  In  January,  1805,  Congress  passed  an  act  establishing 
the  Michigan  Territory,  and  by  the  provisions  of  that 
act  imprudently,  if  not  unwittingly,  extended  the  South- 
ern boundary  of  that  Territory,  over  the  Constitutional 
limits  of  Ohio.  The  authority  of  Michigan,  I  think,  was 
not  attempted  within  those  limits  until  1818,  and  after  the 
authorities  of  Ohio  had  assessed  a  tax  on  the  people  liv- 
ing within  that  part  of  the  State  included  in  the  Michigan 
Territory,  by  the  act  of  Congress  before  mentioned.  After 
this  took  place,  some  of  the  inhabitants  applied  to  the 
Governor  of  Michigan  for  commissions  as  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  and  other  offices,  under  the  authority  of  that  Gov- 
ernment, which  were  readily  granted ;  and  thus  com- 
menced the  jurisdiction  of  Michigan  within  the  borders 
of  Ohio.  After  the  possession  of  the  disputed  territory 
was  thus  acquired  by  Michigan,  under  color  at  least  of  an 
act  of  Congress,  the  application  of  the  military  of  Ohio 
would  have  been  unjustifiable  in  regaining  the  possession 
at  that  time,  and  would  be  so  still.  Congress  having  cast 
over  our  boundary  another  title,  and  possession  being 
obtained  under  that  title  while  we  slept,  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  who  is  bound  to  take  care  that  the 
laws  of  Congress  are  faithfully  executed,  would  have  been 
required  by  a  faithful  discharge  of  his  duty,  to  have  sus- 
tained the  jurisdiction  of  Michigan  against  a  military 
force,  until  Congress  should  have  withdrawn  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  that  Territory  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Ohio  j 
and  this  is  all  that  Ohio  now  asks. 


390  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

"  The  people  of  Ohio  will  not,  I  know  they  will  not, 
endanger  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  country  by  an 
attempt  to  prevent  the  operation  of  an  act  of  Congress  by 
force.  They  have  already  had  too  many  evidences  of  the 
justice  as  well  as  the  liberality  of  Congress,  to  believe 
that  this  will  ever  be  necessary.  But  this  disposition  on 
the  part  of  Ohio,  the  forbearance  of  her  citizens,  will  not, 
J  hope,  be  construed  into  an  abandonment  of  her  rights, 
or  a  dulness  in  comprehending  them.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  Ohio  has  claimed  jurisdiction  of  the  country  in 
contest  between  her  and  the  State  of  Michigan,  as  her 
undoubted  right,  being  included  in  her  Constitutional  limits ; 
nothing  short  of  a  recognition  of  this  principle  will 
satisfy  her  people  ;  and  it  would  be  an  act  of  humiliation 
to  the  State,  to  give  to  her  territory  to  which  she  has  not 
a  Constitutional  right,  as  an  act  of  law,  of  equity,  or 
political  expediency. 

"  Suppose,  Sir,  you  give  Ohio  the  boundary  claimed  by 
the  State,  on  the  score  of  political  expediency,  will  it  not 
be  expected  that  Ohio,  under  this  obligation,  will,  on  the 
score  of  political  expediency,  be  bound  to  favor  the  polit- 
ical views  of  the  donors,  for  the  favor  bestowed.  It  may 
be  thought  that  the  smallest  return  she  could  make  would 
be  to  act  with,  or  for  you  in  future  elections,  if  it  should 
be  at  the  expense  of  her  honor,  as  well  as  Constitutional 
rights.  It  will  be  an  entire  mistake,  if  you  expect  to 
conciliate  the  favor  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  by  letting  them 
know  that  the  Constitution  gave  them  no  such  right,  but 
that  the  same  was  granted  out  of  your  abundant  favor 
and  good  will,  as  an  act  of  grace.  Is  not  this  the  language 
you  hold  to  Ohio,  when  you  talk  of  political  justice  and 
expediency  ?  Ohio,  I  am  fully  persuaded,  will  never  so 
far  humble  her  honor  and  self-respect,  as  to  acknowledge 
such  a  principle. 

"We  ask  for  nothing  but  justice — naked,  simple  justice ; 
but  we  ask  that,  not  as  an  abstract  principle,  but  as  our 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  391 

undeniable  right.  It  seems  strange,  to  me  at  least,  that 
we  should  feel  so  much  disposed  to  assail  the  Constitution 
of  the  State,  and  be  constantly  looking  after  some  princi- 
ple, by  which  we  can,  with  some  degree  of  plausibility, 
claim  the  honor  of  adding  to  Ohio  a  strip  of  territory, 
which  we  would  make  her  citizens  believe  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  State  had  not  secured  to  them ;  when,  if  we 
would  look  directly  to  that  instrument,  and  make  it  the 
rule  of  our  action,  we  would  find  it  sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose, and  there  written  all  we  ask  for. 

"Are  the  boundaries  of  a  sovereign  State  to  depend  on 
the  fluctuating  legislation  of  Congress  ?  This  doctrine  of 
depending  exclusively  on  an  act  of  Congress  for  their 
boundary,  will  not  satisfy  the  people  of  Ohio.  They  will 
require  something  more  permanent ;  and  they  will  not 
cease  their  endeavors  until  Congress  withdraws  all  juris- 
diction foreign  to  their  Constitution  and  laws,  North  of  a 
direct  line  drawn  from  the  most  Southerly  extreme  of 
Lake  Michigan  to  the  most  Northerly  cape  of  the  Miami 
bay,  and  thus  recognizing  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State, 
under  the  provisions  of  their  own  Constitution,  and  which 
they  are  fully  satisfied  no  power  on  earth,  but  themselves, 
has  any  right  to  alter,  abridge,  or  restrain,  in  a  single  jot 
or  tittle." 

EXPUNGING   RESOLUTIONS. 

In  March,  1834,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  passed 
a  resolution  condemnatory  of  President  Jackson,  for  the 
removal  of  the  Deposits  of  the  public  money  from  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  act  of  removal  created 
great  excitement  in  Congress  and  throughout  the  Union. 
Mr.  Clay  offered  a  resolution  of  censure,  which  was 
passed.  Mr.  Ben  ton  avowed  his  settled  determination  to 
persevere  until  the  resolution  of  censure  was  expunged 
from  the  Journal  of  the  Senate.  After  renewing  his 
Expunging  Resolutions  for  several  Sessions,  it  was  carried, 


392  LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

by  a  vote  of  twenty-four  to  nineteen,  on  the  16th  of 
January,  1837 ;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  in  the 
midst  of  the  silence  of  the  Senate,  and  a  crowded  gallery 
of  spectators,  proceeded  in  a  formal  manner,  to  draw  black 
lines  around  the  resolutions  of  censure,  and  to  write  in 
strong  letters  across  the  face  of  it  —  "EXPUNGED,  BY 

ORDER  OF  THE  SENATE." 

Senator  Morris  received  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  which 
he  in  part  represented,  resolutions  instructing  her  Sen- 
ators to  vote  for  the  Expunging  Resolution.  These 
resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Ohio,  in 
January,  1836 ;  and  Mr.  Morris  presented  them  to  the 
Senate  on  the  31st  of  March,  1836,  and  on  their  presenta- 
tion made  the  following  remarks : 

Mr.  President — It  becomes  my  duty,  a  duty  I  owe  to 
the  State  and  the  country,  to  present  these  resolutions. 
I  take  this  occasion  to  say,  and  I  have  no  doubt  of  the 
fact,  that  these  resolutions  express  the  sentiments  of  a 
vast  majority  of  the  people  of  Ohio.  I  venture  this 
opinion  without  fear  of  a  successful  contradiction  ;  for  it 
will  be  remembered  that  during  the  session  of  Congress, 
which  has  so  appropriately  received  the  name  of  the  PANIC 
session,  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Ohio  Legislature, 
instructing  their  Senators  in  Congress  to  aid  in  sustaining 
the  President  in  the  removal  of  the  public  money  from 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  to  oppose  a  re-char- 
ter of  that  Institution.  We  were  then  told  with  great 
confidence,  that  the  General  Assembly  had  altogether 
mistaken  the  opinion  and  wishes  of  their  own  constitu- 
ents, and  those  upon  whom  resolutions  of  this  kind  were 
designed  to  operate,  took  an  appeal  from  the  constituent 
body  to  the  people  at  large ;  and  to  influence  the  public 
judgment  the  people  were  told,  that  should  the  Deposits 
not  be  restored  and  the  Bank  re-chartered,  a  most  delete- 
rious effect  upon  the  trade,  prosperity,  and  welfare  of  the 
country  would  be  the  consequence ;  that  in  fact  it  would 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  393 

make  our  "  canals  a  solitude,  and  our  lakes  a  desert  waste 
of  waters."  The  long,  loud,  vehement,  and  repeated 
denunciations  of  the  President  for  his  act  in  removing  the 
Deposits,  the  fearful  forebodings  so  strongly  and  elo- 
quently urged  on  this  floor  as  to  the  fatal  issue  of  that 
act,  all  coming  in  aid  of  the  means  used  by  the  Bank  in 
producing  distress  in  the  country,  took  some  effect,  and 
operated  for  a  moment,  on  the  public  mind  in  Ohio.  It 
threw  into  each  branch  of  the  General  Assembly  for  that 
year,  a  small  majority  opposed  to  the  Administration; 
but  even  that  General  Assembly,  elected  as  it  was  under 
the  full  pressure  of  Bank  power  and  panic  speeches,  had 
not  the  temerity  to  instruct  the  Delegation  in  Congress 
from  Ohio,  to  vote  either  for  a  restoration  of  the  Deposits, 
or  a  re-charter  of  the  Bank ;  they  well  knew  that  such 
instructions  would  be  a  violation  of  the  public  will,  and 
they  still,  in  appearance  at  least,  paid  so  much  regard  to 
that,  that  they  did  not  attempt  it,  but  contented  them- 
selves with  a  bare  repeal  or  rescinding  of  the  resolutions 
passed  on  that  subject  at  the  previous  session,  and  thus 
in  order  to  save  themselves  and  friends,  indirectly  denied 
the  right  of  instruction  by  the  Legislature  of  their  Sen- 
ators in  Congress.  The  appeal  to  the  people  was  then 
perfected,  and  the  issue  thus  made,  fairly  presented  to 
the  voters  of  Ohio,  to  be  tried  at  the  election  held  in 
October  last,  and  what  has  been  the  verdict  ?  A  solemn 
decision  that  the  right  of  instruction  exists  in  the  Legis- 
lature, and  that  Senators  are  bound  to  obey.  That  ver- 
dict is  recorded,  and  judgment  pronounced  in  the  resolu- 
tions I  now  offer.  But,  Sir,  that  judgment  has  also  been 
reviewed  and  re -affirmed,  and  is  presented  here  with  a 
double  force,  not  only  as  the  opinion  of  the  last  General 
Assembly,  individually  considered,  but  as  required  by  the 
people  of  Ohio  at  the  hands  of  their  Representatives  (as 
the  General  Assembly  has  rightfully  declared)  in  the  pas- 
sage of  these  resolutions.  It  is  hoped  and  expected,  that 


394  LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

this  high  and  solemn  mandate  will  not  be  entirely  disre- 
garded, and  the  requirement  of  the  General  Assembly 
altogether  useless.  The  obligation  that  a  Senator  is  under 
to  his  own  State,  and  the  duty  he  owes,  are  of  too  sacred 
a  character  to  be  dispensed  with.  Disobedience  by  a 
Senator  to  the  instructions  and  requirements  of  his  State 
as  expressed  by  her  Legislature,  is  a  deep  and  festering 
wound  in  the  vital  principles  of  our  institutions,  which  if 
not  speedily  cured,  will  soon  assume  a  fatal  ulcer.  It  is, 
in  the  first  place,  a  total  abrogation  of  the  doctrine  that 
the  Legislative  Body  is  the  true  representation  of  State 
sovereignty.  And  it  gives  to  the  Senator,  for  the  time 
being,  all  the  attributes  of  despotism,  the  full  and  free 
exercise  of  his  own  will  and  authority,  without  account- 
ability. But,  Sir,  could  any  one  for  a  moment  entertain 
such  doctrine,  and  deny  to  the  Legislature  the  right  of 
instructing  Senators  of  their  States?  yet  in  this  case  the 
resolutions  offered  have  another  and  different  support, 
little  inferior  to  the  Legislative  Body  itself,  and  probably 
more  conclusive  to  the  real  sentiment  of  the  people  on 
this  important  subject.  The  Convention  which  met  at 
Columbus,  on  the  eighth  of  January  last,  composed  of 
about  five  hundred  members,  representing  upward  of 
sixty  counties,  being  nearly  the  whole  number  in  the 
State,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  passed  a  resolution  in  the 
following  words : 

"Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  right  of  instruction  as 
the  sheet  anchor,  the  main  pillar  of  our  freedom,  and  that 
we  are  determined  never  to  surrender  it,  but  to  the.  last 
to  stand  by  it.  Convinced  as  we  thoroughly  are,  that  it  is 
only  by  the  frequent  and  rigid  exercise  of  this  invaluable 
privilege,  that  the  Democratic  character  of  this  Govern- 
ment can  be  preserved,  we  believe  the  agent  who  disobeys 
to  be  unworthy  the  confidence  of  his  constituents,  and 
that  he  ought  to  resign  his  seat." 
"  It  is  true,  this  Convention  was  composed  of  men  friendly 


LIFE    OP    SENATOR    MORRIS.  395 

to  the  present  Administration ;  and  as  a  doubt  no  longer 
exists,  that  a  majority  of  the  people  of  Ohio  are  of  the 
same  opinion,  the  Convention  thus  re-affirming  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  General  Assembly, 
must  satisfy  every  man,  that  Ohio  requires  her  Senators 
to  vote  as  instructed  by  the  Legislature.  But,  Sir,  this  is 
not  all ;  we  had  another  Convention,  a  grand  Whig  Con- 
vention, held  on  the  22d  of  February  last,  and  they  claim 
that  a  number  of  returning  prodigals  had  come  into  their 
ranks,  and  the  great  ox,  instead  of  the  fatted  calf,  was 
killed ;  and  they  had  much  rejoicing ;  and  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say,  that  opposition  to  the  Administration 
was  their  watchword ;  and  while  they  boast  of  having  far 
outnumbered  the  former  Convention,  they  did  not  open 
their  lips  on  the  subject  of  the  resolutions  of  instruction, 
passed  by  the  General  Assembly.  In  the  pride  of  their 
strength,  they  were  endeavoring  to  catch  the  popular  gale, 
and  well  knew  that  opposition  to  those  resolutions  would 
prove  their  overthrow.  I  have  before  me,  a  paper  con- 
taining an  account  of  their  proceedings,  and  I  find  no 
resolution  pro  or  con  on  the  subject  of  instruction  to  Sen- 
ators here.  This  silence  is  evidence  of  approval  by  our 
political  opponents  in  Ohio,  or  that  they  well  knew  that 
the  people  of  that  State  strongly  disapproved  of  the  con- 
demnatory resolution  passed  by  this  Senate.  This  excit- 
ing subject  had  occupied  public  attention.  Almost  every 
man  in  Ohio  had  thought  and  conversed  on  the  question, 
and  the  "Whig  Convention,  no  doubt,  would  have  used  it 
to  their  advantage,  if  in  their  power. 

Under  this  highly  responsible  situation,  we  are  called 
to  act  and  vote ;  and  the  great  question  is,  shall  we  do 
our  own  will,  or  the  will  of  that  sovereign  power  who  sent 
us  here?  It  is  a  hopeless  warfare  to  be  contending 
against  our  States;  it  is  a  kind  of  moral  treason,  for 
which,  sooner  or  later,  we  must  expect  to  suffer  the  pen- 
alty. It  is  wisdom  then,  for  us  to  make  our  submission  at 


396 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


once ;  and  when  we  are  called  to  vote  on  the  resolutions 
offered  by  the  Senator  from  Missouri,  that  we  vote  in  their 
favor.  I  have  now  strong  hopes  that  Ohio  will  be  united 
in  her  vote  here,  on  this  important  question.  Her  Sen- 
ators appear  to  pay  the  highest  respect  to  the  resolutions 
of  her  Legislature.  I  hope  the  one  I  now  offer  will  not 
form  an  exception  to  our  general  conduct.  Can  we  refuse 
our  obedience  on  the  ground  that  this  resolution  requires 
an  unconstitutional  act?  "We  ought  to  pause  before  we 
make  this  excuse,  and  well  distrust  the  correctness  of  our 
own  opinion,  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  opinion 
of  our  State,  repeatedly,  and  I  may  add  almost,  if  not 
entirely  unanimously  expressed,  not  only  of  our  own 
State,  but  of  twelve  States ;  while  not  a  single  State  has 
expressed  a  contrary  opinion.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the 
State,  and  not  the  individual  agent,  that  ought  to  be 
known  and  felt  here.  If  the  agent  is  unable,  from  con- 
scientious motives,  to  express  that  opinion,  his  path  of 

duty  is  plain  before  him. 

. 

These  extracts  not  only  give  the  views  of  Mr.  Morris 
on  the  various  subjects  discussed,  and  his  ability  to  com- 
prehend and  express  them  in  a  clear  manner,  but  also 
show  that,  as  a  public  Servant,  he  was  faithful  to  all  the 
interests  which  he  believed  were  connected  with  the 
prosperity  and  welfare  of  Ohio,  and  the  Nation. 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  397 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

His  Private  Life  and  Personal  Characteristics  —  Liberality  to  Poor  and 
Honest  Young  Men — Thomas  L.  Hamer — His  Life  and  Character — Mr. 
Morris's  Son  pronounces  his  Eulogy  in  Congress — An  interesting  fact — 
His  Sense  of  Justice  and  Render  ness — Lines  on  the  Death  of  a  Grand- 
daughter— His  Dislike  to  Idler's  —  Advice  to  his  Youngest  Son,  on 
Leaving  Home  for  College— The  Editor's  Reminiscences — His  Religious 

Faith — The  Moral  Significance  of  his  life. 

. 

THE  private  life  of  Thomas  Morris,  deserves  a  brief 
record.  In  this  sphere,  where  the  true  nobleness  of  man 
is  developed,  there  is  an  honorable  correspondence  with  the 
principles  that  governed  him,  in  his  public  career  and 
character.  Selfishness  was  not  the  ruling  element  of  his 
private,  as  it  was  not  of  his  public  life.  He  felt  that  no 
one  ought  to  live,  without  exerting  a  good  and  active 
influence  on  his  fellow-men,  and  doing  his  part  in  the 
work  of  humanity  and  benevolence.  In  his  own  way  he 
did  his.  He  was  a  friend  to  the  poor  and  oppressed,  and 
no  honest  person,  in  want,  ever  went  from  his  door,  with- 
out receiving  practical  sympathy  and  aid. 

His  liberality  was  unbounded  and  disinterested,  toward 
poor  and  honest  young  men,  struggling  for  honorable 
advancement  in  life ;  and  he  had  a  pleasurable  pride,  in 
witnessing  their  success  in  life.  Few  men,  perhaps,  were 
more  ready  or  were,  under  similar  circumstances,  more 
liberal  in  means  and  sympathy,  to  encourage  and  bring 
forward  men,  in  the  walks  of  public  life,  than  was  Mr. 
Morris,  His  influence  lives  in  those  who  have  been,  and 
now  are,  prominent  and  influential,  in  the  civil  and 


398  LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 

political  history  of  the  country.  They  have  risen  to  dis- 
tinction, filled  with  ability  high  offices  under  the  Govern- 
ment of  Ohio,  and  of  the  nation,  and  gratefully  acknow- 
ledged their  obligations  to  Mr.  Morris  for  his  sympathy 
and  aid. 

One  such,  now  sleeps  in  an  honored  grave.  He  rose  from 
obscurity  and  poverty,  to  great  prominence  and  influence 
in  the  civil  and  military  history  of  Ohio  and  his  country. 
In  early  life,  as  a  young  adventurer,  he  went  forth  from 
an  humble  home,  to  seek  fortune  and  fame,  in  the  wide 
world.  Friendless,  without  means,  and  with  only  a  good 
common  education,  he  found  his  vwy  to  the  village  and 
home  of  Mr.  Morris.  He  was  received  into  his  family,  and 
enjoyed  his  patronage.  Engaging,  in  the  honorable 
and  useful  business  of  a  teacher,  this  young  man,  pursued 
it  for  three  years ;  enjoying  during  this  time,  the  law 
Library  and  Counsels  of  Mr.  Morris,  in  the  bosom  of 
whose  family  he  had  found  a  home.  In  1821,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  legal  profession,  and  soon  rose  to  emi- 
nence in  his  profession.  His  popularity  and  abilities  soon 
placed  him  in  the  Legislative  Halls  of  his  adopted  State, 
over  which  he  presided  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  In 
1832,  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  District  in  Congress, 
to  which  position  he  was  selected  for  six  consecutive 
years,  when  he  declined  a  re-nomination.  In  1845,  when 
the  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States  began,  ho 
volunteered  as  a  private  soldier,  was  elected  Major 
General  of  the  first  Ohio  Kegiment,  and  afterward  was 
appointed  by  President  Polk,  a  Brigadier  General  in  the 
army.  His  field  of  military  glory,  became  his  grave.  On 
the  2d  of  December,  1846,  before  the  city  of  Monterey,  in 
Mexico,  he  died  with  fever.  In  October,  1846,  two  months 
previous  to  his  death,  his  old  District  in  Ohio,  re-elected 
him  to  Congress.  In  1847,  Jonathan  D.,  eldest  son  of 
Thomas  Morris,  was,  without  opposition,  elected  to  fill 
the  seat  in  Congress  vacated  by  his  death.  On  the  23d 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  399 

of  January  1848,  Jonathan  D.  Morris,  in  pronouncing  in 
Congress  a  just  eulogy,  on  his  predecessor  THOMAS  L. 
HAMER,  after  a  recital  of  his  early  life,  and  political  and 
professional  career  and  character  said : 

"  The  intellect  of  General  Hamer  was  clear  and  dis- 
criminating. He  was  cautious,  energetic,  affable,  and  his 
colloquial  powers  were  peculiarly  fascinating.  The  purity 
of  his  character,  in  the  private  and  domestic  relations  of 
life  was  never  questioned.  He  was  unwearied  in  his  efforts 
to  improve  his  powers,  and  though  nature  had  been 
liberal  to  him,  it  is,  mainly,  to  this  course  on  his  part, 
that  we  are  to  look  for  the  reason,  for  his  great  attain- 
ments as  a  Statesman  and  a  lawyer.  His  friends  being 
aware  of  this,  claimed  that  his  career  would  be  onward, 
and  that,  if  he  had  lived,  his  final  triumph  would  be  the 
the  receiving  of  the  highest  honor  which  men  can  bestow 


on  man." 


His  remains  were  re-interred  in  Georgetown,  Brown 
County,  Ohio,  his  home,  at  the  expense  of  the  State. 

It  is  a  singular  and  honorable  coincidence,  that  Thomas 
Morris  should  be  the  means  of  aiding  a  young  man  of 
high  talents  and  ambitious  aspirations,  and  that  he,  after 
a  brilliant  career  in  the  civil  and  military  history  of  his 
country,  and  dying  in  that  service,  should  have  his  eulogy 
pronounced  in  the  Halls  of  Congress  by  a  son  of  him,  who, 
thirty  years  before  received  him  as  a  friendless  youth, 
and  aided  him  in  the  achievements  which  cluster  around 
his  active  and  honorable  life.  Mr.  Hamer,  a  few  years 
before  he  died,  acknowledged  his  indebtedness  to  Thomas 
Morris,  declaring  his  willingness  to  aid,  if  necessary,  any 
child  of  the  friend  and  patron  of  his  early  youth.  This 
liberality  of  Mr.  Morris  has  been  repaid  in  the  success  of 
those  to  whom  he  extended  practical  sympathy  and  aid. 

A  sense  of  justice,  equal  and  exact  justice,  to  all  men, 
independent  of  circumstances,  or  conditions,  or  color,  was 
one  of  the  strong  and  marked  elements  in  his  character. 


400 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


In  professional .  political,  and  private  life,  this  trait  had  a 
bold  and  manly  development,  and  gave  executive  energy 
to  his  acts.  His  strong  sense  of  justice  may  not  have 
graced  him  with  a  winning  suaviter  in  modo,  yet  it  gave  him 
the  ardent  fortiter  in  re — a  purpose  to  hold  on  and  to  carry 
out  the  ends  of  justice  everywhere. 

And  this  element  was  blended  with  a  kind  and  benevo- 
lent heart.  Though  seemingly  it  was  not  prominent  in 
outward  development,  yet  his  nature  had  a  rich  vein  of 
genuine  sympathy  and  kindness  running  through  it.  The 
sorrows  and  bereavements  of  life  of  which  he  had  in  his 
own  family  a  full  share,  melted  his  heart  into  tenderness. 
He  was  called  to  bury  four  married  daughters,  from 
twenty-four  to  thirty  years  of  age,  each  leaving  a  family 
of  small  children,  some  of  whom  he  adopted  and  educated 
with  parental  affection  and  interest. 

The  following  lines  will  exhibit  the  tenderness  of  his 
heart  in  the  sorrows  of  life.  They  were  written  after 
visiting  the  grave  of  a  pious  and  accomplished  grand- 
daughter, who,  after  completing  her  education,  fell  a  vic- 
tim, at  the  age  of  eighteen,  to  consumption.  At  the 
request  of  her  three  surviving  sisters,  he  penned  these 
stanzas : 

Dearest  sister,  gone  forever 

From  this  scene  of  care  and  wo; 
The  tie  that  bound  us  death  did  sever, 
Yet  calm  and  peaceful  didst  them  go. 

April's  sun,  and  vernal  flowers, 
' 
Saw  thee  gently  pass  to  rest; 

Now  the  rose  which  friendship  gave  thee, 
Grows  and  blossoms  on  thy  breast. 

The  friendly  giver,  wan  and  feeble, 
In  fond  remembrance  weeps  thy  doom, 

And  kindly  asks,  if  the  rose  she  gave  thee, 
Is  green  upon  thy  early  tomb. 


LIFE    OF     SENATOR    MORRIS.  401 

Sainted  mother  —  sainted  sister, 

Lie  side  by  side  in  quiet  sleep; 
Though  the  grassy  hillock  hide  you, 

Yet  our  heart  your  memories  keep. 

When  late  we  viewed  thy  graves  together, 

Deepest  grief  our  hearts  did  fill ; 
Yet  resigned  we  checked  our  sorrow, 

For  'twas  our  Maker's  holy  wilL 

'Tis  flesh  that  dies,  the  spirit  lives 

Immortal,  in  a  world  Divine ; 
And  hope  its  brightest  prospects  sheds, 

That  now  that  better  world  is  thine. 

Though  parted  here,  we  hope  to  meet  you, 

When  the  toils  of  life  are  done; 
In  a  world  of  light  to  greet  you, 

A  world  of  light  without  a  sun. 

The  meek  example  thou  hast  set  us, 

Will,  we  trust,  with  us  abide, 
That  our  walk  in  life  may  fit  us 

To  die,  when  called,  as  thou  hast  died. 

He  had  an  intense  hatred  for  idleness.  Himself  a  hard, 
practical  worker,  in  his  profession  or  at  manual  labor,  he 
could  not  tolerate  idleness  in  others.  His  motto  was : 

"  Faint  not  in  all  the  weary  strife, 
Though  every  day  with  toil  be  rife, 
Work  is  the  element  of  life ; 
Action  is  light ;  — 

For  man  was  made  to  toil  and  strive, 
And  only  those  who  labor  live." 

He  left  this  moral  legacy  to  his  children,  in  the  advice 
he  gave  to  his  youngest  son,  a  young  man  of  rare  intel- 
lectual powers,  and  purity  of  moral  life,  who  went  to  an 
34 


402  LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 

early  and  lamented  grave,  in  the  autumn  of  1842,  in 
Quincy,  Illinois.  When  that  son  left  home  to  pursue  his 
Collegiate  education,  the  motto  that  his  father  put  in  his 
memorandum  book,  as  a  souvenir  of  parental  affection,  and 
a  guide  to  moral  conduct,  was,  "  Idleness  is  the  bane  of  every 
enterprise,  the  downward  road  to  ruin.  Let  strict  morality, 
untiring  industry,  rigid  economy,  and  a  steady  perseverance,  be 
your  constant  aim  and  practice."  A  motto  that  will  lead  all 
young  men,  if  adopted,  to  honor  and  prosperity. 

The  editor  of  this  work  remembers  with  gratitude,  the 
many  lessons  of  practical  wisdom  and  morality  he  received 
during  his  five  years  of  College  life,  at  Miami  University, 
Oxford,  Ohio ;  and,  as  he  is  indebted  to  his  father,  for 
whatever  of  influence  or  good  he  may  have  achieved  in 
the  Ministry,  or  in  society,  he  esteems  it  a  privilege  that 
he  has  been,  through  a  kind  Providence,  permitted  to 
compile  the  life  and  labors  of  Thomas  Morris,  and  to  leave 
them  as  a  living  monument  to  his  country,  and  his 
descendants.  He  was,  as  a  parent,  deeply  interested  in 
his  children,  and  spared  no  means  to  qualify  them  for 
usefulness  and  success  in  life.  "  It  is  my  aim,  my  wish" 
(said  he),  "so  to  bind  together  my  family,  that  there  may  be 
perfect  harmony  and  mutual  assistance  given  to  each  other; 
without  this  few  families  can  prosper. 

He  was  not  a  religious  man  in  the  church  acceptation 
of  that  term.  He  had  an  unshaken  faith  in  the  Divinity 
and  truth  of  Christianity,  and  acknowledged  that  its  obli- 
gations were  binding  upon  all  men  ;  yet,  like  too  many  of 
our  public  men,  he  did  not  publicly  yield  his  heart  and  life 
to  its  practical  power.  The  general  harmony  of  his  political 
principles  with  the  moral  teachings  of  Christianity,  and 
his  frequent  reference  to  the  Bible  as  the  fountain  of  all 
good,  and  of  the  highest  authority,  in  legislation  and  in  all 
human  conduct,  evinces  his  faith  in  its  Divine  origin,  and 
its  essential  importance  to  all  the  interests  of  men.  Noth- 
ing afforded  him  greater  pleasure  than  to  witness  the 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS"  403 

members  of  his  family  become  pious,  and  join  a  Christian 
church. 

The  record  of  his  life  and  services  here  closes,  and  they 
have  a  suggestive  and  a  noble  moral  significance.  They 
are  not  surrounded  with  the  halo  of  a  military  hero,  nor 
the  transient  reputation  of  an  ambitious  and  successful 
politician,  nor  the  renown  of  a  great  statesman  ;  yet  they 
are  the  record  of  a  moral  hero,  a  true  patriot,  of  a  life 
devoted  to  freedom,  and  the  true  welfare  of  his  country. 
His  memory  and  services  will  live  in  the  history  of  free- 
dom, and  the  great  principles  he  advocated,  undying  in 
their  nature,  will  have  universal  triumph  and  a  perpetual 
ascendency  in  the  nation  and  the  world.  His  life  illus- 
trates the  great  fact,  fixed  in  the  moral  constitution  of 
things,  that  truth  and  right  are  imperishable,  and  that 
true  and  immutable  principles,  are  the  only  basis  upon 
which  to  build  solid  character,  lasting  renown,  or  to  gain 
the  final  and  permanent  favor  of  the  world. 

That  he  had  his  faults,  said  his  friend,  Dr.  Brisbane, 
none  will  deny ;  that  iie  sometimes  erred  in  practice,  as 
well  as  in  judgment,  is  but  the  common  lot  of  humanity. 

That  he  had  enemies,  is  nothing  more  than  the  best 
men  have  always  suffered.  That  even  friends  were 
alienated  from  him  by  their  misconstruction  of  his  motives 
and  acts,  is  only  proof  that  they  who  do  not  know  ano- 
ther's heart,  need  that  charity  which  covers  the  multitude 
of  sins.  He  was  a  man,  not  faultless  indeed,  but  who  as  a 
husband,  as  a  father,  as  a  friend,  as  a  citizen,  was  val- 
ued most  by  those  who  knew  him  best. 


404  -LIFE     OF    SENATOR     MORRIS. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

His  Death  and  Dying  Exclamations — Burial  —  Monument  over    his 

4  Grave — Its  Inscription  —  Notice  of  his  Death  by  the  Friends  of 

Freedom — Dr.  Bailey's  Notice  and  Analysis  of  his  character — Meeting 

of  the  Liberty  Party  at  Cincinnati — Vote  to  Erect  a  Monument  to  his 

Memory,  in  Hamilton  County — Final  Remarks. 

HE  died  suddenly,  on  the  7th  day  of  December,  1844. 
In  perfect  health,  with  his  intellectual  powers  unimpaired 
by  age,  his  physical  system  in  vigorous  activity,  and  his 
heart  still  warm  in  the  cause  of  human  freedom,  he  was 
stricken  down  by  a  fatal  attack  of  apoplexy.  Engaged 
in  early  morning,  in  making  preparation  for  a  visit  of 
affection,  to  bring  the  invalid  family  of  his  eldest  living 
daughter  to  the  paternal  home,  he  felt  the  disease  coming 
iipon  him.  He  hastily  entered  his  dwelling,  sank  upon 
the  floor,  and,  with  an  audible  voice,  exclaiming  three 
times,  "Lord  have  mercy  on  me"  expired,  in  less  than  five 
minutes.  He  died  on  his  homestead  farm,  four  miles  from 
Bethel,  Clermont  county,  Ohio.  After  the  repose  of  a 
Sabbath,  on  the  following  Monday  his  remains,  surrounded 
with  a  vast  concourse  of  neighbors  and  friends,  were 
entombed  in  the  grave  yard  of  Bethel.  Ere  the  rites  of 
sepulture  were  completed,  his  son,  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel, 
stepping  upon  a  hillock  of  dirt  beside  his  grave,  about  to 
receive  all  that  was  mortal  of  Thomas  Morris,  addressed 
a  few  brief  words,  commemorative  of  his  life  and  the  Pro- 
vidence of  God,  and  offered  a  prayer,  and  the  solemnities 
of  the  funeral  scene  were  ended. 

The  spot  of  his  burial  is  in  a  retired  rural  village, 
in  Clermont  county,  in  the  service  of  which  he  so  long 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS.  405 

labored,  as  a  Lawyer,  and  a  Legislator.  If  ever  the 
lover  of  liberty,  or  the  friend  of  the  slave,  should  visit 
that  spot,  he  will  find  in  that  cemetery  of  the  dead,  a 
marble  monument,  which  the  filial  affection  of  his  chil- 
dren has  erected  to  his  memory ;  and  on  that  monument 
may  be  read  this  brief  inscription  : 

THOMAS  MOKKIS: 
BORN  JANUARY  3o,  1776.    DIED  DECEMBER  7xn,  1844. 

AGED  69  YEARS. 
UNAWED  BY  POWER,  AND  UNINFLUENCED  BY  FLATTERY. 

HB  WAS,   THROUGHOUT   LIFE,  THE  FEARLESS  ADVOCATH 

or 
HUMAN  LIBERTY. 

His  death  was  noticed  by  the  friends  of  freedom,  with 
appropriate  tokens  of  sorrow,  and  tributes  to  his  memory 
and  services.  A  public  print  in  the  Capital  of  Ohio,  in 
noticing  his  death  said  :  "  He  has  possessed  the  confidence 
of  a  very  large  portion  of  his  countrymen,  as  a  philan- 
thropist and  a  patriot,  and  has  sacrificed  much  of  political 
advancement  to  extend  and  strengthen  Abolitionism  in 
the  country." 

A  friend  who  knew  him  well,  and  a  distinguished  co- 
laborer,  in  the  great  cause  of  freedom,  Dr.  Bailey,  present 
Editor  of  the  National  Era,  said,  in  noticing  his  death : 
"  This  distinguished  citizen  is  no  more  ;  he  died  suddenly 
on  Saturday  last,  at  his  home.  On  the  Thursday  before,  he 
was  at  our  house  in  high  spirits,  and  pressing  upon  us  the 
importance  of  soon  having  a  Liberty  Convention  in  Colum- 
bus. We  little  thought  it  was  the  last  time  we  were  to  see 
his  face.  During  the  past  six  years,  we  have  known  him 
intimately,  and  we  had  every  reason  to  respect  him  for 


106  LIFI     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS. 

the  consistency  of  his  political  views,  the  ardor  of  his 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  human  rights,  the  morality  of  his 
sentiments  and  his  respect  for  the  principles  and  precepts 
of  religion.  In  our  business  transactions,  we  have  found 
him  honorable  and  generous. 

"  Early  education,  and  a  well  disciplined  judgment  would 
have  made  him  one  of  the  most  gifted,  as  he  was  one  of 
the  most  energetic  and  independent  of  our  politicians. 
His  political  integrity  has  never  been  questioned ;  his 
political  consistency,  fearlessness,  and  firmness,  have 
always  been  admired  even  by  his  enemies.  He  never 
seemed  to  seek  popular  applause.  He  neither  sought  to 
lead,  nor  would  he  be  led.  He  was  not  given  to  popular 
arts.  If  ever  there  was  a  politician  free  from  the  dispo- 
sition, and  we  may  add,  the  ability  to  play  the  Dema- 
gogue, that  man  was  Thomas  Morris.  The  cause  of 
Human  Eights,  to  which  he  had  consecrated  his  latter 
days,  has  lost  one  of  its  most  fearless  Champions.  His 
views  were  generally  well  sustained  by  sound  principle 
and  logic.  He  was  indeed  remarkable  for  the  boldness  of 
his  propositions,  and  the  force  with  which  he  sustained 
them. 

"  Thomas  Morris  will  live  in  the  hearts  of  the  friends  of 
freedom  throughout  the  Union.  His  noble  stand  in 
defense  of  liberty,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  can 
never  be  forgotten.  The  mass  of  the  American  people 
may  now  think  of  him  only  as  a  fanatical  Abolitionist, 
but  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  a  monument  will  be 
erected  to  Thomas  Morris,  and  posterity  will  honor  him 
as  the  first  who  dared  to  raise  his  voice  against  the 
despotic  acts  of  a  slavery-loving  Senate. 

"  Let  his  memory  be  honored.  Let  the  Democracy  which 
disowned  him,  be  ashamed,  and  hang  its  head ;  let  the 
friends  of  freedom  weep  over  his  grave  :  for  when,  in 
coming  time,  it  shall  be  asked,  whose  was  the  ONLY  voice 
that  was  raised  in  indignant  rebuke  of  the  most  eloquent 


LIFE     OF     SENATOR     MORRIS.  407 

of  Senators,  when  he  lifted  his  hand  to  crush  the  cause 
of  freedom  and  its  advocates,  the  answer  will  be :  '  It  was 
the  voice  of  the  INTREPID  Thomas  Morris.' " 

In  Cincinnati,  the  friends  of  freedom  who  had  labored 
with  Mr.  Morris  in  the  cause  of  human  rights,  at  his 
death  issued  a  call  for  a  public  meeting,  in  these  words  : 

"  The  sudden  decease  of  our  honored  co-laborer  in  the 
cause  of  human  freedom,  Thomas  Morris,  has  spread  a 
universal  sadness  among  us.  It  seems  to  be  the  unanim- 
ous sentiment  that  those  who,  in  times  past,  witnessed  his 
courage,  disinterestedness,  and  unshrinking  consistency 
in  the  cause  of  human  rights,  should  meet  to  express 
their  regard  for  his  memory.  A  pillar  in  the  Temple  of 
Liberty  has  fallen.  There  are  few  of  us  now  to  mourn 
over  its  noble  ruins.  The  patriot  heart  grows  sad  when 
the  voice  is  hushed  that  rang  forth  its  trumpet  tones 
against  National  Evil,  and  the  heart  ceases  to  throb  whose 
strongest  pulsations  were  against  oppression." 

In  obedience  to  this  call  the  friends  of  freedom  met  in 
Wesley  Chapel,  in  Cincinnati,  on  the  20th  of  December, 
1844,  and  passed  the  following  resolutions,  offered  by 
"William  Birney : 

WHEREAS,  it  has  pleased  an  all-wise  God  to  remove 
from  among  us,  by  sudden  death,  our  distinguished  fellow 
citizen,  Thomas  Morris ;  and  as  it  is  becoming  to  pay  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  departed  patriots, 
who  have  illustrated  by  their  virtues,  the  history  of  their 
country — 

Resolved,  That  we  can  never  cease  to  admire  the  lofty 
and  disinterested  patriotism  of  Thomas  Morris,  mani- 
fested as  it  was  by  a  consistent  public  life  of  nearly  forty 
years. 

Resolved,  That  posterity  will  honor  him  as  the  efficient 
Legislator,  the  incorruptible  Judge,  the  able  Senator,  and 
above  all,  the  bold  and  conscientious  Advocate  of  Human 
Bights. 


408 


LIFE    OF    SENATOR    MORRIS. 


Resolved,  That  we  shall  cherish  his  memory,  because  he 
preferred  Truth  to  party,  Humanity,  to  ambition,  and  his 
Country  to  the  emoluments  of  office. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  encouraged  by  his  noble  example 
to  renewed  efforts  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  will 
adopt  for  our  motto  the  closing  words  of  his  celebrated 
Speech  in  the  Federal  Senate — "  The  Negro  shall  yet  be 
free." 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  of  three,  with  power  to  add 
to  their  number,  be  now  appointed  to  receive  contribu- 
tions, for  the  purpose  of  erecting  at  some  point  in 
Hamilton  county,  a  suitable  monument  to  the  memory  of 
the  deceased.  / 


THE    END 


